My Own Worst Enemy
Brandon Hebert
Five Star, Dec 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9781594148279

In Florida, Coral Gables police catch burglar Jack Murray outside of the house he and his partner Rudy Maxa just robbed. Rudy escapes with the loot while Jack is convicted of the crime and goes to prison for a year and a day.

Incarceration at Okeechobee Correctional Institute shook up Murray so once he is freed, he vows to go straight. Miami mob boss Caesar Pelli rewards Jackie for keeping quiet by hiring him as a manager of a club he has on Collins. At the club Jack is attracted to twenty six year old psychology major at Florida Atlantic club pole dancer Miranda Mendoza. She reciprocates but tries to conceal her feelings as she is an undercover FBI agent. When Murray meets Maxa, he finds his former partner has some powerful allies he made in the past year who will kill Murray if he even hints at harming Rudy.

Jack is a terrific protagonist, who wants to go straight, but no one seems to believe him as crime is in his blood; his cronies assume he is going through a short readjustment to civilian life after a year in jail. On the other hand, Miranda makes no sense as she is undercover but gives that away without a second thought as if she is thinking with her libido rather than her brains. Still even with a thin plot, fans will relish this fast-paced South Florida crime caper as everyone knows Jack, they think.

Harriet Klausner