Vapor Trail (Phil Broker) [Kindle Edition]

Chuck Logan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Logan's new police thriller, a sequel to Absolute Zero, has former cop Phil Broker on the hunt for "the Saint," a mysterious killer of suspected child molesters whose signature is a St. Nicholas medallion left in the mouths of his victims. The Saint's latest target, a Catholic priest, has fallen prey in the small town of Stillwater, Minn., where Broker, a retired cop who worked undercover for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, now lives. The local police chief lacks the manpower to marshal much of an investigation, so he hires Broker. Soon, Broker's instincts lead him to two prime suspects. One is Harry Cantrell, a notoriously violent cop and drunkard with a particular dislike for child molesters. The other is a prosecutor, the lithesome Gloria Russell, still seething over her courtroom defeat that let a child killer walk free. Also on Broker's mind is the fact that his estranged wife, an undercover government operative, has disappeared somewhere in Europe, along with their five-year-old daughter. Logan crafts his plot with vigor and clarity, setting up what initially looks like a predictable finale, then pulling the rug out from under readers. With rich characters, a voice of unhesitating assurance and a plot refreshingly free of gimmickry, Logan once again delivers good old-fashioned storytelling.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Extreme-weather lover Logan sets his latest excellent Phil Broker thriller not in the customary bone-chilling Minnesota winter but in the midst of a brutal Minnesota summer heat wave. Broker is called away from his vacation for a dual mission. His former cohorts, investigators in the Twin Cities, face the apparent return of the Saint, a vigilante killer and local hero with a particular hatred for child molesters. The cops have long suspected that Broker's former partner-turned-nemesis Harry Cantrell knows more about the killings than he's telling, but Harry has skipped town in a last-ditch effort to avoid treatment for his alcoholism. Broker is drafted as the best bet to bring him in--and to find out what he knows. Tensions come to a boil along with the weather as the victims mount, Harry evades, Broker sweats, and the Saint continues to take justice into her own hands--but whose hands are they? Carrie Bissey
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 423 KB
• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC14DK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,342 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Logan scores again, September 29, 2003

By 

D. A KENNEDY "read ranger" (Santa Cruz, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vapor Trail (Mysteries & Horror) (Hardcover)

Chuck Logan is one of those rare talents that just keep getting better as they go, even though they started off with a bang. You can read any of his first novels, and get the same feeling that he's been there, lived it, and has inherited the story-teller's gene needed to make it real for the reader. Great, believable characters, incisive writing, a very much appreciated brevity of language, and intelligent plots grace all of his books. I read an earlier review that panned "VAPOR TRAIL" based on a lack of descriptive prose about Stillwater, Minnesota. Time to read some nonfiction, pal. I read Chuck Logan and John Sanford for gripping suspense, action, humor, and, HELLOOOOO, entertainment, not for a lesson in geography.
Well, "Vapor Trail" has it all, in spades, ( as they say), and I enjoyed it tremendously!
One thing more....Logan is on my very short list of authors that I'll buy without bothering to read the blurb on the back page. He writes it, I'll enjoy it. Buy "Vapor Trail" without reservations. You won't be disappointed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SAINTS AND SINNERS, June 26, 2003

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vapor Trail (Mysteries & Horror) (Hardcover)

Broker's back and now instead of freezing to death, he's fiery hot in "Vapor Trail." You don't think of Minnesota having such tremendous heat waves, but like their winters, this one is excessive. The villain in this one is called "The Saint." He or she disposed of a known pedophile who got off on technicalities, taking justice into his or her hands. Now a year or so later, the Saint returns wiping out a priest who had been accused of fondling a teenage girl. She (we now know it's a she?) has a list of people she plans to dispose of, and thus the journey begins.
Throw in the cop who used to be Broker's friend, who is now an alcoholic and renegade, and who could possibly be the Saint; the ambitious attorney Gloria Russell, who has a picture of the young victim in her office; and Broker's ex-girlfriend, Janey, and you've got a potboiler going.
Logan agains masters his skill of believable characters, a strong feel for his surroundings and a great twist at the end. The identity of the Saint...ah, well, you just have to read it...great reading.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid mystery, July 10, 2004

By 

Pangloss "soldierblue" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vapor Trail (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a very straightforward, compelling mystery/police novel. The characters are well developed and the story moves along at a quick pace. There is not a lot of superfluous exposition in Mr. Logan's novels. He writes about characters and plot and his stories are interesting and easy to read.