Bob McElwain

Bob McElwain’s Lethal Wind begins by taking the cliché, “no good deed goes unpunished” to the extreme. A pleasant day cruise on a family boat, Denty’s Dream, in the Marina Del Rey quickly becomes an unexpected disaster for the families of the Dentons, the Larsons, and their friends, local detective Tony Haggen, his girlfriend Gail, and Scott Macklen, who served in Vietnam. A curious look at a sea green tarp floating twenty miles out from shore turns out to be a cargo-filled raft of coke. Despite Scott and Tony’s protests to let the Coast Guard handle it, Denty is determined to haul the raft in and get his fifteen minutes of hero fame back on shore.

Denty notifies the Coast Guard of the situation and the boat gets a helicopter and a Coast Guard cutter to escort it back to shore; enough attention to convince a pursuing ship to beg off. Just the same Tony calls in a favor from a fellow detective Hap Skylar who understands the desire to remain anonymous, so while reporters interview Denty at the dock, Tony, Gail and Scott take a less crowded route back to their vehicles. Guessing that the coke the Coast Guard just took possession of was worth about 10 million, the detective and ex-Vietnam Vet know there will be repercussions.

By early the next morning, it started, first the Dentons, parents and the kids were massacred, then the Larsons and their police protection were gunned down by Miami Song Birds sporting MAC 10s. Tony ferrets Gail out of town under police protection, only to find himself a target along with innocent mourners at the Dentons funeral. That left Scott alone to go on the offensive. Everyone knew the drug lord was a crazy, paranoid man named Boggs, but no one could link him to anything. It was time for Scott to pull out his secret stash of cash and enlist the assistance of those who operated in an underworld where petty rules and laws were not a hindrance.

First he needed a team: Lencho Cabral could get whatever he needed. Geoffrey Robarris, the pompous ex-CIA guy had the ability to get information. Hap Skylar was the detective who had to follow the rule book, but Scott needed him to pick up the bad guys at the end. Then there was the beautiful woman, Wendy, the pilot with her own personal plane. The plan was simple: Convince a paranoid Boggs that the Columbians were after him and wait for him to make a mistake. All Scott had to do was do some major damage to Boggs property in the Americas, cut of his supply of cash, and foul up the deliver of the next shipment of coke. Of course a third party kept getting in the way. His odds weren’t good considering , Hap, Lencho, and Robarris were all betting against him.

If you’re a reader who enjoys action with a plausible mystery and a hero with the odds stacked against him, this is your book. Scott doesn’t mention too much about exactly what he did in Nam, where he got his stash, or why he always keeps a gun close, but the reader can infer from his improvised plans, when plan A does work, that special forces training may be in his background. There’s a little mystery about Scott that I hope Mc. McElwain will allow us to explore more in another novel soon.… (mere)