The Blind Pool

by Paul McHugh

Overview

A Russian crime ring scores entry to the USA by forging an alliance with a criminal gang that uses a West Texas private prison as their base. Felons are secretly released from that prison and sent out across the nation to work as hard-case enforcers. An assault on a bridge in the Florida Keys tips off authorities to the alliance's grand plot to subvert, exploit, and terrorize the American public. But agents who start to investigate are betrayed by a high-placed FBI mole. Stakes rise to life-or-death when the agents and their women are kidnapped by the cabal. To achieve escape, wreak vengeance and exact justice stretches the tradecraft and loyalties of these U.S. operators close to a breaking point - and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780998732077
Publisher:	Elkheart Books
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Born in the Florida Everglades amid a Category 4 hurricane, Paul McHugh has remained an outdoorsman and professional writer for his entire life. "Deadlines," McHugh's first crime novel, won a best mystery prize from the National Indie Excellence Awards, and another from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association. His newest thriller, "The Blind Pool," draws from years as an investigative journalist and outdoor sports editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as his international travels. McHugh has reported on U.S. Navy SEALs, corporate malfeasance and high-risk adventure. He is a hunter, a surfer, a trail runner, a poet, and a husband. "The Blind Pool" is his third novel and sixth book. Find out more at www.paulmchugh.net

Editorial Reviews

“The global crime ring at this story’s core is believable, and so is a team of operators who battle it. The support these two pals give each other under all the ribbing is the way the brotherhood works. Action scenes are hot as they get, yet realistic. You’ll rip through pages to find out what happens.”

• Rorke Denver, NY Times bestselling author of Damn Few and star of the film, Act of Valor

From the Publisher

2018-03-03
A military veteran's unpleasant encounter with a biker gang prompts an investigation into criminals using a Texas prison for their own gain in this thriller.Dan Cowell and his common-law wife, Linda Parker, are enjoying a relaxing life in Key West, Florida. At least until Dan tries stopping bikers from tormenting an elderly couple on the highway, ending with both him and Linda beaten and humiliated. Dan's friend and fellow Navy vet, Carl Blackadar, who does "discreet" government work, suggests tracking down the gang. This would benefit Carl as well. Dan can ID the main assailant, Tank, whose gang Carl has linked to international theft and murder. Dan agrees; later, his eyewitness status is the likely motive for an assassination attempt against the common-law couple. The two men begin in Ecuador while Linda and her ex-journalist pal (and Carl's girlfriend), Melanie Olson, investigate the matter separately. Mel believes she's found Tank in a Texas jail, where the women travel under the pretense of writing a magazine article. Something is clearly wrong with the prison: How can Tank be in other countries if he's locked up, and why doesn't Linda recognize him? Things escalate when Dan and Carl get word that the two women have disappeared. McHugh's (Deadlines, 2010, etc.) novel is brimming with action. Scuffles are quick and startling, while realistically varying in outcomes: some of the fights the good guys win; some they lose; and some involve frying pans. Characters have just as much impact, especially the women; Linda, a Moskita from Honduras, proves a formidable opponent against any attacker. The story initially bounces the perspective between the paired-off characters, but as they gradually split apart (for different reasons), the scenes shorten and the pace increases. Nevertheless, the author adeptly depicts the environment; at the prison, the women trek through "corridors that cradle" a dank musk "of male sweat as well as hints of fecal vapor, stale urine and vomit, all laced by a turpentine reek of Pine-Sol."Tight action sequences and a high-energy plot that readers should relish.

Kirkus Reviews