Book Description

The new Stevens and Windermere novel from the author of the dazzlingly acclaimed The Professionals--"one of the best debuts of the year" (Mystery Scene).

From the outside, Carter Tomlin's life looked perfect: a big house, pretty wife, two kids--a St. Paul success story. But Tomlin has a secret. He's lost his job, the bills are mounting, and that perfect life is hanging by a thread. Desperate, he robs a bank. Then he robs another.

As the red flags start to go up, FBI Special Agent Carla Windermere homes in on Tomlin from one direction, while Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens picks up the trail from another. The two cops haven't talked since their first case together, but that's all going to change very quickly.

Because Carter Tomlin's decided he likes robbing banks. And it's not because of the money, not anymore. Tomlin has guns and a new taste for violence. And he's not quitting anytime soon.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist *Starred Review* After achieving law-enforcement fame in The Professionals (2012), Twin Cities FBI agent Carla Windermere and state BCA agent Kirk Stevens head in separate directions. She's stalking the adrenaline rush of big cases, and he's begun a career-sacrificing effort to avoid the "cowboying" in their last adventure. Now, a bank robber's violent rampage brings them back together. Carter Tomlin, a recently unemployed executive who's been leveraging debt to live in luxury, impulsively robs a bank. The heist nets little cash but a big payoff to his ego. His victims' fear provides a drug-like high, addictive after his emasculating job loss. Tomlin quickly acquires automatic weapons and a supporting team of thieves and begins leaving bodies in his wake. Windermere is sure Tomlin is the gang's mastermind but struggles to convince fellow agents that the seemingly wealthy suburbanite is a violent criminal. Stevens, who's personally acquainted with Tomlin, also doubts Windermere's theories, but clues are soon difficult to mask as coincidences, and he joins Windermere in the hunt. Laukkanen has clearly avoided the sophomore slump, deftly alternating taut narratives and building toward a grand climax that's completely organic to the story. Windermere, Stevens, and Tomlin are strikingly realistic characters sharing varying degrees of dissatisfaction with their lives, and readers will identify with their struggles to reconcile their own needs with their responsibilities to others. --Christine Tran

Review "Laukkanen is slam-bang brilliant."-John Sandford

"Owen Laukkanen is a writer to watch."-Thomas Perry

"A terrific new voice."-John Lescroart

Praise for The Professionals

"Really terrific-characters that live and breathe, and chills aplenty."-Lee Child

"Like waking up on a roller coaster, just as the car plunges down a steep fall. Laukkanen's prose is fighting-weight lean, and the pace is relentless."-Richmond Times-Dispatch

"A page-turning blend of classic suspense fiction and chillingly postmodern amorality. Ingenious plotting, perfect-pitch characterization, and evocative sense of place combine to create an impressive debut."-Jonathan Kellerman

Criminal Enterprise

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