August 1, 2021
Peter Ash, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who now battles post-traumatic stress disorder, is driving through Nebraska's backroads when he comes upon a pregnant woman stranded when her car runs out of gas. Of course, he'll give her a lift, but that puts the woman's furious ex-husband--also an ex-cop--on their trail. Alas for Helene, she saw something she shouldn't have.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 22, 2021
At the start of Thriller Award winner Petrie’s gripping seventh novel featuring Marine vet Peter Ash (after 2021’s The Breaker), 19-year-old Helene Johansen seizes the chance to escape her dreary life in Coldwater, Mont., by hitching a ride with Roy Wiley, a charming stranger who stops to fill up his truck at the gas station where she works. Months later, Ash is driving through rural Nebraska when he comes across a vacant car and a pregnant Helene by the side of the road. Since her impulsive decision, Helene has discovered Roy is the leader of a team of professional thieves and a cold-blooded killer, but only after falling for and marrying him. She’s willing to do whatever she has to, to protect herself and her unborn child. She gladly accepts Ash’s help, but she later abandons him to his fate when Roy and his crew corner them in the remote countryside and she pretends to have gone with Ash unwillingly. Ash escapes, and a nail-biting chase across the northern Great Plains ensues. Shifting points of view serve to heighten the suspense. This adrenaline-fueled ride will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary.
December 1, 2021
Fans of Petrie's rambunctious Peter Ash thrillers are in for something different in this seventh entry in the series. Of course, stock items are still present: the combat veteran, seeking purification; his girlfriend, who disapproves of his wild ways; the bone-crushing buddy, invisible until his head-pounding skills become vital. But there's an emotional intensity here that's new and startling. The earliest hint comes in the first 50 pages, which are Ash-free: the point of view is that of a desolate young woman working in a convenience store in Nebraska. Her despair is lightened by a customer who looks like a free-range Robert Redford. He offers escape, but also a demonstration of how attractive people who aren't good for us can be. Teaming with him was a mistake, and the throng that hunts them is headed by Ash, on a rescue mission of his own. Here Petrie creates fully fleshed, likable people only to blow them away in explosions of blood and bone, and the book itself seems to vibrate from the shock. This is a lava-flow of action, and a rich reading experience as well.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from November 15, 2021
Ex-Marine Peter Ash defends a pregnant teenager from her murderous husband in this heart-thumping thriller. Nineteen-year-old Helene is desperate to escape Coldwater, Montana, population 2, "the crossroads of no place and nowhere." Her mom died in a car accident, and now she's alone except for the sleazy Bogaloosa, who "smells like fermented armpit," underpays her at Bogaloosa's Gas and Grocery, and wants to have sex with her. So she cadges a ride from a long-haul trucker named Roy Wiley, who lavishes gifts on her. Sure, he's given rides to other girls, but Helene is something special. Roy is special too, and not in a good way. He and his partner, Frank, rob "wealthy jerks who live somewhere else" across several Western states. Helena is pulled into Roy's orbit and finds that she can't leave, because he's a murderer who is obsessed with her. She feigns love, and they marry in Nevada. But Roy is one seriously scary dude who kills for pleasure--sometimes sexual pleasure. She escapes, but her car breaks down. "Vastly pregnant," she asks a passing motorist, series hero Peter Ash, for a ride. Ash is an ex-Marine plagued by "white static" in his brain, compliments of his combat days in Iraq and Afghanistan. Roy and several cohorts are chasing them both. Ash risks everything to protect this total stranger, and a hair-raising pursuit follows. Readers might guess the story's outcome, but the trip is violent and downright frightening fun. And they will admire Helene, who will do anything to protect herself and the baby in her belly. She believes that "fortune favors the bold." Roy is obsessed with her and the mistaken thought that she's having twins, but if he ever finds out the truth, she's dead. The monster is a bottomless wellspring of shootings and neck snappings, and the story's survivors tie up the plot in a neat bow. This is one hellacious ride for crime fiction fans.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
December 10, 2021
Peter Ash has a tendency to step into other people's problems. When he sees a car stranded alongside the road in the middle of nowhere, of course he'll stop to help. When the young pregnant woman steps forward and is immediately surrounded by her husband and three of his friends, Peter suspects no good will come of it. Peter is forced to abandon the woman--but he's not willing to give up on his attempt to save her. As Peter contends with guns and dogs, and hunters with night-vision goggles, he doesn't know Helene's story of leaving an isolated life, hoping Roy, an ex-cop who picks her up, is different from other men. She soon learns how violent Roy can be, and it won't be long until Peter, a former marine who has PTSD, faces a man more frightening than himself. VERDICT The violent sequel to The Breaker features a loner with two friends he can call on for help. The latest story of a knight errant will remind readers of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, compelled to help the needy.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.