In a previous outing, Stalkers, Detective Sergeant Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg nearly took down The Nice Guys, a vicious gang operating an international rape club. For a hefty fee, the Nice Guys kidnap women to order. Each client can then do anything he wishes to the woman before the Nice Guys clean up the mess afterwards. The club’s dangerous ringleader Peter Rochester AKA Mad Mike Silver was arrested and imprisoned but, after suffering a heart attack, he’s being transferred to a hospital for treatment when , en route, the van is ambushed by the Nice Guys and Mad Mike disappears.

 

Heckenberg was responsible for killing members of the club and sending their top man to prison, and was seriously injured in the process. This book is 'round two', and like a boxing bout, it’s a violent, action fuelled affair.

 

Heckenburg moved down from Manchester to work in the Met where he's been the past decade and a half. He's up in Sunderland working on Operation Bulldog but his home is in London, at Scotland Yard’s Serial Crimes Unit. That’s where he sees his home and family rather than the small, scruffy place he resides in. Heck is a good character, likeable and tough; enough of a maverick to remain interesting but credible. He also has a history that impacts on his life and work. A family tragedy and a past relationship with his boss, the attractive and demanding Gemma Piper, that adds much to the story.

 

However, this is very much an action-led novel with many brutal murders spanning the length and breadth of the country as the Nice Guys are on the warpath, snatching witnesses, torturing, slaying and leaving a calling card TO-EV. On their list of loose ends to tie up is Heck. His life in serious danger he’s put into protective custody for his own safety. But heck’s not the sort to sit by and twiddle his thumbs. He’s overheated and might even jeopardise the case but Heck decides to go it alone. Unable to trust everyone on his team and having been warned off, he decides to hunt down the Nice Guys…but the hunter is the hunted.

 

The book races to its conclusion with a series of exciting chase set pieces. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure, the action dominating the character development or suspense, but it works. A gripping, devour in one sitting thriller, that, if it became a movie, would have Jason Statham and Liam Neeson fighting for the role of Heck.