"A good friend is a connection to life -- a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world" -- Lois Wyse

Rick "Ricochet" Dover and Stretch Ridgeway are more than just best friends, they're known as the "Dauntless Duo," partners and homicide detectives at the L.A. Police Department. Working like a well-oiled machine, they've cracked more cases and put away more criminals than anyone else in their division. Then one ill-fated night, Rick gets a call from Stretch. It's an emergency and he's on his way over. Dover waits, but in his gut he knows something's wrong when his good buddy fails to show in record time. He becomes even more worried when Stretch's wife, Terri, says it's been awhile since he left. Cruising the road between his house and Stretch's place, Dover comes around a bend to find a flaming, grisly automobile accident sending smoke signals his way. Stretch is dead.

Rick knows his partner better than anyone, and Stretch wasn't nicknamed "The Freeway Ferret" for nothing. The little voice that's served Rick so well in the past says there's more here than meets the eye. The mystery, madness and mayhem only get worse as he finds a crumpled card with the word "BlackFlash" on it and begins to puzzle out the secrets Stretch's computer has locked inside. It seems Rick's good buddy got himself into conspiratorial waters, both deep and deadly, and there are those who'll stop at nothing to keep their plans secret and in motion.

Paired up with a new partner, Garret "Falcon" Jones who's deep in the ghetto culture and an asset to the force, Rick doesn't know who's friend and who's foe. The clock is ticking on an explosive conspiracy that could blow the whole country to bits, and the saboteurs are people in high places. Rick has to fight everyday crime on the streets, save the girl his best friend loved and save the day---all in a short period of time. If only his life were as predictable as the movies he loves, he might just have a chance.

Mark Bouton is to the detective mystery genre the way film noir is to the movies. Think Dirty Harry meets Lethal Weapon meets Mike Hammer, and you're on your way to catching the ride of your life on mystery's highway. The book literally zings through your hands with all the visual and explosive whomp of an action-packed movie, while the pages seem to turn themselves. Bouton is definitely in a thrilling and temptingly unique class of his own. With characters who reach out and whisper their very thoughts in your ears, cutting-edged excitement and enough celluloid references to make any film aficionado smile, there's no way you can put this one down until the very end. This book is one ride you can enjoy over and over again.