"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.
In CRACKS IN THE RAINBOW, Rick Dover, an LAPD homicide
detective, receives an urgent call from his partner, wanting
to meet late at night. On the way, Stretch dies in a flaming
car wreck. After the shock wears off, Dover examines the
circumstances, becoming suspicious of the "accident." But
only he and his new partner, Falcon, think the matter should
be investigated.
Using maxims from Stretch, chess psychology, nuclear
physics, knowledge of movie lore, and street savvy, Dover
and Falcon uncover a covert group of cops, feds, and
military, connected by the FBI's computer, plotting to
launch ethnic cleansing in America. Only Dover can stop
them, if they don't kill him first.