Summary:
Bestseller Green (_Kingdom Come_) introduces a tough,
appealing hero in his action-packed 12th thriller. Jake
Carlson, a correspondent for the tabloid TV news show
American Outrage, based in New York City, has softened
his hard line a bit after his wife's recent death, but is still
capable of going for the jugular when necessary for a hot
story. On the home front, to help his preteen adopted son, Sam,
get over his grief, Jake agrees to try and track down Sam's
biological mother. This simple request goes from bad to worse
once pseudo-celebrity Jake starts asking questions about the
boy's supposed Albanian roots. After Jake is drugged and shot
at, his personal life becomes tabloid fodder as his own
colleagues ruthlessly chase down the story. When Sam
disappears, Jake gets serious and sets out to do whatever it
takes to bring his son back, regardless of who pays the price.
Green's tale is ripe with irony and full of barbs.
(Apr.)
Sure, Jake Carlson is making big bucks as a reporter on the
tabloid news show I^ American Outrage, but the former foreign
correspondent is ashamed of his job, and his personal life is a
mess, too. Widowed for a year, he's struggling to keep his
13-year-old adopted son, Sam, on the straight and narrow. Jake
finds a renewed sense of purpose, though, when Sam convinces
him to help find his birth mother. He knows the hunt will be
difficult, but he doesn't realize just how challenging until he
starts asking questions. The head of the agency Jake used for
the adoption had died, and there's no trace of the agency,
which had been operating slightly under the radar, funneling
babies from Albania to the U.S. for couples desperate for
children. As Jake attempts to tie his investigation into a
story to bolster his waning popularity at I^ American Outrage,
he and Sam become the target of violence and revenge. Genre
veteran Green hits his stride here, with his best novel since
his early football thrillers (I^ Outlaws, 1996).
Mary Frances Wilkens
From Publishers Weekly
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