Synopsis
When a teenage girl witnesses a carjacking gone bad, she is marked for death by a crime boss with no apparent motive.
After Paul Elliott, lawyer and close friend of the family, begins counseling them, he becomes entangled in the murder plot. Elliott and "Rico," a killer with a conscience and an old nemesis, soon forge an uneasy alliance to protect the girl from a hit man with an agenda of his own.
Rico and the hit man already have a troubled history, and as the long simmering feud between the two reaches the boiling point, bodies start to pile up in rapid succession ... and old scores will be settled.
Review
"With danger looming in every chapter, The Last Straw is an action-packed and nerve-racking read. Duncan skillfully draws the reader into a complex web of characters... A few key twists within the storyline keep the reader intrigued in this fast-paced thriller...The Last Straw is an outstanding crime thriller..." - 5 Stars, Red City Review
"This Chicago set thriller is a pacy read, written with an edge and style... For me, this is even better than the first in the Pigeon-Blood Red series and it does work well as a stand-alone... Ed Duncan's series will sweep up fans as it goes along." - Crime Thriller Hound
"Contract killers seem like such affable chaps. Sure, there are the homicidal psychopaths that bring down the profession, but among them, if fiction is any indication, walk a community of upstanding, morally sturdy gentlemen who may commit murder for hire but who uphold ethical standards and airtight loyalties that make them handy guys to know in a pinch. Rico is this kind of guy. Sure, he kills for cash, but he has lines he won't cross. When asked to take out the teenage witness to a crime, the ride with Rico begins. He declines the job, his rival volunteers, and into the fray explodes an onslaught of alliances, vendettas, collateral damage, and no small amount of spilled blood. In the margins, race and gender hover thoughtfully, suggesting they matter yet not stealing the show away from Rico and the action. Why is it so much fun to hang with crooks like Rico? As his prostitute girlfriend learns in the opening scenes when he avenges her from a violent john, characters like Rico live in their own separate universes where they define and mete justice. They defend those they love and accommodate the extremes their situations require. They can handle themselves in a physical showdown, they shoot to kill, and they walk away from fights victorious. Knowing that and living vicariously through either Rico or the loved one Rico is protecting is an entertaining fantasy. That temporary taste of aggressive amorality is heady stuff, and the body count is conveniently forgotten with the turn of each page. Like so many crime thrillers, Rico is a fun, fast pop through an imaginary world of tough guys, lamenting ladies, and a world-weary anti-hero. He may be a killer, but he's one of the good ones." - The US Review
"Realistic characters, suspenseful action, twists and turns that prove satisfyingly unpredictable, and an attention to creating full-faceted characters (whether they be women or men, victims or investigators, or hitmen) lends to an absorbing read highly recommended for those who like their thrillers complex and their characters fully developed." - Midwest Book Review
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
