Parece que alguien ha decidido que el ex detective privado Joe Kurtz no merece ni un momento de sosiego. Cuando se despierta en el hospital con una herida de bala en la cabeza, sabe que el intento de asesinato no puede haber sido ordenado más que por dos personas: la bella y letal Angelina, cabecilla de los Farino, una de las familias de la mafia de Búfalo, o Toma Gonzaga, el mayor rival de Angelina, quien tiene sus propias rencillas con Kurtz.
Lo extraño es que, cuando sale del hospital, ambos pretenden contratar sus servicios para averiguar quién está diezmando sus tropas. Atrapado entre la mafia y la policía, ignora que su verdadero enemigo es un maniaco que está esperando para atacar...

Takes a licking and keeps on ticking... that's Joe Kurtz. You have to suspend your belief systems for sure when you're reading about Joe Kurtz. Nobody in real life could live like this and still be alive.
Entertaining thriller about an ex-P.I. in Buffalo NY who has more lives than a cat. ( )

Giallo hardboiled molto ben scritto, Simmons scrive molto bene, la storia è molto ben strutturata e appassionante, i personaggi ben caratterizzati, dettagliatissime descrizioni sia ambientali, che particolari, delle situazioni, delle armi, delle azioni, ecc... Una lettura gradevole. ( )

This high action mystery/thriller kept barreling along - just like an action movie....never a dull moment. It kind of had a noir feeling to it - partly in the way the city (Buffalo NY) and area is described and partly in the style of Joe - rough, hard, unemotional, powers through any kind of pain, etc. I was led a merry chase and didn't figure out who the bad guy manipulating everything was till the very end....which is how I like it. A good summer mystery read. ( )

I liked this book best out of the three Joe Kurtz novels. I think it has to do with a glimpse into his childhood and some of Joe's hot-buttons. He is just a little more human this time, a little more anguished. More people are not tip-toeing around him being a girl's father.

The only part I really didn't like was the helicopter assault near the end. Lots of reasons. Way too over-the-top. Everyone agreed to THAT plan? Since when do mafia dons participate in open assaults? I've got people for that (really talented people)! An auto-rotation landing? Not the sort of landing that delivers all your people intact enough to jump out and do the assault. Why couldn't Little Doc get a stealth helicopter, given how much ridiculous stuff he did get with a few hours' notice? The Colonel's highly efficient, well-armed, and scattered men are overwhelmed too easily.

The armored SUV was quite a red herring. I wonder if Simmons had a draft where Joe made use of it?

I'd guessed the Dodger's identity fairly early. Maybe Simmons dropped too many hints.

I do have a hard time believing existing mafia heroin distribution groups would not have better intelligence on any rival in their territory. Working your way up the chain of employees, regardless of high-level protection, doesn't seem that difficult. But that was only a minor wrinkle in my suspension of disbelief.

Once again Simmons had a weapon, um ... malfunction, lol. Big Bore's massive Ruger revolver probably didn't have a "6.5 pound trigger pull." It was more likely closer to 12 pounds. And no way would any of his girlfriends had any trouble pulling the trigger in either event. I know, I know, pedantic of me.

Fun story, worth a half-star better rating than the others, and I was wondering for quite a while when the Dane might make an appearance again. ( )