Bøker av Lou Berney

Multi-award winning and USA Today bestselling crime writer Lou Berney returns to his critically acclaimed thriller series starring former mob wheelman Shake Bouchon, who finds himself dragged into a high-stakes hostage rescue, among the mighty temples and shadowy underground of Cambodia. During his years as a wheelman for the Armenian mob in Los Angeles, Shake Bouchon didn't think of himself as the settling-down type. But now he's happily married to Gina, the love of his life-and former adversary-in Indiana, of all places. The great thing about Bloomington, for two people with checkered pasts, is that everyone is nice and no one knows them. Until the day a brutal Armenian thug who has always hated Shake shows up in his backyard. He demands that Shake help him find his missing mob boss, the pakhan-the dangerous and beautiful Alexandra "Lexy" Ilandryan, who also happens to be Shake's ex-girlfriend. Shake's got a lot of history with Lexy, so he reluctantly agrees to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where she was last seen. Once there, he finds himself tangled in an underworld of Cambodian gangsters, mob politics, and opportunistic expats, where the stakes aren't clear and everyone is looking to score. With only the help of a clairvoyant hippie and the Armenian thug, Shake becomes involved in a high-stakes negotiation for Lexy that might cost him his own life. But perhaps most threatening of all is Gina's wrath when she arrives in Cambodia intent on saving Shake from himself-and from all the people trying to kill him. With Lou Berney's trademark wit, flawless plotting, vibrant locale, and memorable characters, Double Barrel Bluff is another unputdownable, globe-trotting adventure.

La suerte de Frank Guidry se ha terminado.Un teniente leal al jefe de la mafia de Nueva Orleans, Carlos Marcello, uno de los hombres más poderosos y peligrosos en los Estados Unidos, Guidry ha aprendido que cada persona es prescindible. Pero ahora es su turno, él sabe demasiado acerca del crimen del siglo, el asesinato del presidente John F. Kennedy.A horas del asesinato, la gente relacionada con Marcello empieza a aparecer muerta y Guidry sospecha que es el siguiente: estaba en Dallas haciendo un encargo del jefe, menos de dos semanas antes de que le dispararan al presidente. Con pocas opciones, Guidry emprende el camino hacia Las Vegas para ver a un viejo conocido, un hombre implacable que odia a Marcello tanto como para ayudar a Guidry a desaparecer. Tal vez.Guidry sabe que la primera regla de huir es «no detenerse», pero cuando ve a una mujer al costado de la carretera con el auto descompuesto, dos pequeñas y un perro en el asiento trasero, ve el disfraz perfecto, la forma de cubrir sus huellas y escapar de los sicarios que siguen su rastro. Aparentando ser un vendedor de seguros, Guidry ofrece ayudar a Charlotte a llegar a su destino, California. Si lo acompaña a Las Vegas, la puede ayudar a obtener un auto nuevo.Para Charlotte, es más que un auto ?es un escape. Ella va huyendo también de una existencia sofocante en un pequeño pueblo en Oklahoma y un esposo que es un borracho empedernido. Es una historia americana: dos extraños que se conocen para compartir el camino hacia el oeste, un sueño, una esperanza y encontrarse el uno al otro en el camino. Charlotte se siente atraída hacia un hombre de mente abierta y amable; a Guidry lo atrae una mujer inteligente y graciosa. Él ve que ella está determinada en darse, a sí misma y a sus hijas, una nueva vida; ella no puede saber jamás que él está desesperado por dejar la suya atrás.

When an aimless drifter witnesses a case of child endangerment, he finds his purpose in seeking justice suspenseful and heart-wrenching thriller from the award-winning author of November Road.

Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America?a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award?winning author of The Long and Faraway GoneFrank Guidry's luck has finally run out.A loyal lieutenant to New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello, one of the most powerful and dangerous men in America, Guidry has learned that everybody is expendable. But now it's his turn?he knows too much about the crime of the century, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.Within hours of JFK's murder, people with ties to Marcello are turning up dead and Guidry suspects he's next: he was in Dallas on an errand for the boss less than two weeks before the president was shot. With few good options, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas to see an old acquaintance, a ruthless man who hates Marcello enough to help Guidry vanish. Maybe.Guidry knows that the first rule of running is ?don't stop,? but when he catches sight of a woman on the side of the road with a broken-down car, two young daughters and a dog in the backseat, he sees the perfect disguise, a way to cover his tracks and outrun the hit men on his tail. Posing as an insurance salesman, Guidry offers to help Charlotte reach her destination, California. If she accompanies him to Vegas, he can help her get a new car.For Charlotte, it's more than a car?it's an escape. She's on the run, too, from a stifling existence in small-town Oklahoma and a husband who's a hopeless drunk. It's an American story: two strangers meet to share the open road west, a dream, a hope?and find each other on the way. Charlotte is drawn to a man who's open-minded and kind; Guidry is attracted to a woman who's smart and funny. He learns that she's determined to give herself and her kids a new life; she can't ever know that he's desperate to leave his old one behind.But fugitives shouldn't fall in love, especially with each other. A road isn't just a road: it's a trail, and Guidry's relentless and murderous hunters are closing in on him. Guidry discovers that he doesn't just want to survive, he wants to really live, maybe for the first time.Everyone's expendable, or they should be, but now Guidry can't abandon the woman and two little girls he's come to love.And it might get all of them killed.

Like Carl Hiaasen, Berney delights in the cartoonish. Like Elmore Leonard, he can drive a plot. What sets him apart is how well he evokes love, making the romanceas compelling as the mystery.Boston GlobeLou Berney immediately earned a seat of honor at the mystery masters table with his crackling caper novel, Gutshot Straighta lightning-fast, fiendishly clever suspenser that screamed for a sequel. And here it is. Former professional wheel man Charles Shake Bouchon is back, living in the Caribbean paradise of Belize with his lawless past far behind himuntil a gunshot tears through his beachside restaurant and hes on the run again. A twisting tale filled with lawmen, con men, and hit men; a beautiful but deadly FBI agent; and a murderous thug named Baby Jesus, Whiplash River recalls the best of the off-the-wall crime fiction impresariosElmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, James W. Hall, Robert Ferrigno, Tim Dorseywhile establishing its own unique orbit in the noir universe.

Professional wheel man Charles "Shake" Bouchon is too nice a guy for the life he's led and not nice enough for any other. Fresh out of prison, he's supposed to deliver a package to Vegas strip-club owner Dick "the Whale" Moby and pick up a briefcase for Shake's former boss and lover, Alexandra Ilandryan, pakhan of L.A.'s Armenian mob. But when the "package" turns out to be Gina, a wholesome young housewife, Shake decides to set her free?a move as noble as it is boneheaded. Now Shake and Gina are on the run in Panama?looking to unload the briefcase's unusual contents while outmaneuvering two angry crime bosses, a heartbroken ex-linebacker, and a sadistic thug plagued by erectile superfunction. And Shake's learning that Gina is less wholesome and more complicated than he initially imagined.