Nowhere to Hide - Hardcover

Elliott, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684823624 ISBN 13: 9780684823621

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1997

Synopsis

Jack Kirby, whose wife had walked out on him when their daughter kills herself after getting hold of Jack's gun, takes on the task of babysitting a beautiful woman who is set to testify against the mob, and he finds himself giving in to her temptation. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

Three fascinating, fully fleshed central characters make James Elliott's new thriller take off and fly. Jack Kirby is a New York cop assigned to guard the memorable body of high-priced call girl Nicole Bass after she watches a cold-eyed, dapper mob boss named Vincent Genero take some very nasty revenge on a crooked accountant. Kirby is a believably flawed cop, attracted to the equally credible Nicole, and Genero--who starts out as a John Gotti clone--quickly becomes one of the best-drawn fictional mobsters since The Godfather. Elliott, as he proved in his excellent first thriller (Cold, Cold Heart, available in paperback), also knows how to create action scenes that grab you by the buttons and don't let go.

From Kirkus Reviews

Derivative New York police procedural assembled from many bits and pieces of cheesy film noir and ultraviolent tough-cop thrillers. Though she's only 29, impossibly beautiful Nicole ``Niki'' Bass, the femme fatale with a heart of gold in Elliott's follow-up to his Washington thriller, Cold Cold Heart (1994), has managed to save up $900,000 in 18 months working the not-so-mean streets of Manhattan's East Side as a $1,000-per-hour prostitute. Shortly after turning down a five-carat diamond, a deluxe European getaway, and marriage (with a $100,000 money-back guarantee!) from mafia lawyer and accountant Michael Onorati, Bass watches Vincent Genero, the foulmouthed boss-of-bosses blow Onorati's skull apart for absconding with millions in Gambino family funds. While Genero and his cronies are savoring their kill, Bass takes off with Onorati's cash-packed briefcase, which also contains a computer disc detailing where the mob money went. Since she's the only witness to the crime, Genero wants Bass dead. After a hideous scene in which her Mayflower-Madam boss is tortured with a blowtorch, Bass winds up a protected witness with NYPD Detective Jack Kirby as her bodyguard. A guilt-ridden action hero whose marriage ended when his young daughter accidentally killed herself with his gun, Kirby permits himself to fall in love with Bass, who clearly knows more about high finance than she's letting on. Meanwhile, Carmine Molino, the next in line as wiseguy king, hires suavely vicious Cuban assassin Antonio Zamora as part of a scheme to rid himself of Genero and Bass, who, like all fantasy prostitutes, can't help but fall in love with Kirby. Champagne-soaked sex scenes and slick shoot-outs in expensive hotel rooms add nothing to this lifeless, film-me-please action tale reminiscent of the procedurals of the late William Caunitz, to whom the book is dedicated. (Film rights to Quentin Tarantino; Literary Guild alternate selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0684823624
• ISBN 13: 9780684823621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336