City of Serpents

by Chuck Freadhoff

Overview

When cops burst into a sleazy hotel in Tijuana’s red light district, Rick Moreno, who’s wanted for murder in L.A., knows they’ve come to kill him, not arrest him. The cops work for Jeffrey Johns, CEO of Development One — a company with billions to lose if its secret is exposed. Rick’s wife, Kelly, discovered the secret and was killed. Framed for Kelly’s murder, Rick came to Tijuana to find Freddy, his alibi witness. But after seeing Freddy gunned down, Rick knows his life is on the line. He must cross back to the City of Serpents to clear his name and be reunited with his daughter, Sara. But if he crosses legally, he’ll be caught and go to prison. Alone and broke, he calls the only man who can help - his cousin, Carlos, a former gang banger and two-time loser. There’s no love lost between them. Carlos thinks Rick is a sellout and Rick suspects Carlos may be the real killer.
Back in L.A., with the cops closing in, Rick confronts Johns with the secret and gets proof that he murdered Kelly but almost pays with his life in the process. In the end, Rick is reunited with Sara and understands the true value of family.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014457743
Publisher:	Chuck Freadhoff
Publication date:	05/18/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Chuck Freadhoff is a novelist living in Los Angeles. Born in a small North Dakota town, he always knew he wanted to write and started making up stories to entertain classmates in elementary school. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was nine-years-old.
His love of writing led him to journalism in college. After graduating, he took a job with a small daily newspaper in Ontario California covering police, local governments and breaking news. This was followed by stints at papers in Rochester, New York and Columbus Ohio and for The Stars and Stripes in Germany. After earning a degree at the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona, he joined the staff of Investor’s Business Daily.
Chuck called upon his extensive experience as a journalist in all three of his previously published novels and cast a reporter as the protagonist.
His debut novel, Codename Cipher, he drew on his experiences in Germany and his knowledge of the U.S. military operations in Europe.
In Blue Rain, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, Chuck moved the action to Los Angeles and introduced Johnny Rose, a reporter determined to find the truth. Rose returned in A Permanent Twilight, also a Los Angeles Times bestseller. The novel is set against a background of homeless youth in Hollywood. For more than twenty years, Chuck has volunteered at a shelter for street kids in Hollywood called My Friend’s Place. His experiences at the agency and his interaction with the street youth were the foundation for A Permanent Twilight.
In his two most recent novels, he stepped away from journalist-as-protagonist to explore the themes of ambition, greed and jealousy. Both books, City of Serpents and A Plague of Iron, the protagonists are men caught up in events they don’t understand. Both books are set against the background of the troubles along the U.S. border with Mexico. Before writing the books, he did extensive research including multiple trips to Tijuana.
He is now at work on his sixth novel, Free Booze Tonight, which will mark a departure from his earlier focus on thrillers.