Recent front-page headlines about fugitive financier Robert Vesco can only help this smart, crisp thriller, which has been constructed around a Vesco-like figure by former federal prosecutor Lysaght (Special Circumstance). Fugitive financier Robert Vargo has been given until June 30, 1991, by his Cuban hosts and Colombian masters to repair recent damage to his American drug operations by the Drug Enforcement Agency. That means returning to the U.S. and setting up another drug smuggling venue in Los Angeles. To track him down, the feds call in beautiful Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Beck, whose prosecution of Vargo was thwarted when he killed her witnesses and fled the country; they also want her to cut a deal with her former lover, attorney Robert E. Lee Baker, who is serving a 15-year sentence for having aided and abetted Vargo. The ultimate fate of this pair's relationship may be the only predictable aspect of this accomplished novel, which is distinguished by a deceptively dry narration and a willingness to forgo formula for some delightful surprises. The suspense builds to a major revelation that has been carefully seeded yet made invisible by Lysaght's deft storytelling; a story told this well, and this intelligently, deserves a wide readership.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Three years ago, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Beck lost an opportunity to indict drug trafficker Robert Vargo. Her three key witnesses were executed just days before the indictment, and Vargo skipped town, tipped off by Julie's lover and one of Vargo's lawyers, Bobby Lee Baker. The feds have just discovered that Vargo, who has been hiding in Cuba, is back in the States, and Baker is temporarily released from prison so that he can help Julie locate him. Disgusted, as bitter feelings of betrayal surface, Julie has no choice but to work with Baker in a race against time. The plot thickens as Julie and Baker are drawn deeper into the criminal milieu in Los Angeles and as she begins to uncover the "truth" about what happened three years earlier. The characters are unique and as varied as the twists and turns in this riveting story from the author of Special Circumstances (Avon, 1984. o.p.). Recommended for fiction collections.?Maria A. Perez-Stable, Western Michigan Univ. Libs., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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