Nick Brownlee, Blood and Fire

Blood and Fire

Nick Brownlee

Minotaur, Nov 9 2010, $25.99

ISBN: 9780312550240

In Mombassa former British police detective turned Kenyan fishing boat skipper Jake Moore's business partner Martha Brantley has returned to New York where she is murdered. FBI Agent Clarence Bryson, who tried to warn her, believes her assassination has to do with Moore's assistance to Kenyan Detective Inspector Daniel Jouma, which devastated a human-trafficking ring (see Bait).

Bryson and Agent McCrickerd travel to Mombassa because they believe the deadly gang is cleaning up by killing those who impeded their lucrative business with Moore at the top of the hit list. The American Feds trace the series of murders to a professional team of assassins tied to the traffickers. Jouma struggles with government corruption, cronyism, bribes and incompetence while investigating a missing nun case and a local homicide as the new mayor wants him fired. Finally Jake tries to get back to his fishing boat business, but the suits are planning progress that will destroy his locale Flamingo Bay.

Although too much is going on too quickly, readers will appreciate this powerful Kenyan crime thriller as the bad guys are clearly defined early when a killer takes a knife to Martha's cat. Ironically the readers know much earlier than the cops and former cop who the psychopaths are, but that will not matter to the audience, as the action never stops. With a strong sense of locale, armchair warriors will enjoy the latest African adventure and want Moore from Nick Brownlee.

Harriet Klausner