Stuart Woods has written a lot of books, nearly all of them good. They are peppered with interesting characters, a bit of humor, some cynicism, some romance, some intrigue. And some of them cross characters from one of his series into another.

Reckless Abandon has some of my favorite of his characters: Stone Barrington, ex-NYPD, now lawyer; his friend Dino, still on the force, married to a mafioso’s daughter; Holly Barker, ex-military, now police chief in Orchid Beach, FL (crossing over from her own stories — or bringing her story, because this one is her’s and bringing in Stone and Dino, take your pick). Throw in Lance, who is CIA and recruits both Stone and Holly, and Holly’s ex-sometime-lover who is FBI, and you have a story with a lot of twists and turns. Factor in Herbie, the audacious photographer, Ham (Holly’s dad) and other assorted characters and you get the ridiculous with the sublime.

The setting moves from NYC to Orchid Beach to Santa Fe to NYC, including the dinners at Elaine’s and other assorted restaurants, all on a hunt for a killer with mafia roots. Holly, along with her trusty attack dog, Daisy, is determined to bring him to justice, dead or alive. Along the way, she and Stone are nearly killed. But you know they will survive to see another day.

There’s not a lot of gore. There’s honor among thieves (thankfully for Stone and Holly.) Bad things happen to bad people who did bad things to good people.

Have you read any of his books? I read them as I find them, not always in order, but the books give enough detail to pick up stories that have occurred before. Holly’s fiance (in another book) was killed in a bank robbery the day they were to marry. A cult is involved and she has yet to catch the cult leader. There’s always another book. That’s a good thing!

I like the series, so I give it a 4.

Karin

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Categories:

Books, Detective or mystery

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