Nowhere to Hide

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.

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.

After witnessing Mob chieftain Vince Genero kill one of her johns, high-rent prostitute Nicole Bass escapes with the access codes to the foreign accounts into which the victim deposited the millions he stole from Genero and the rest of New York's crime families. Enter recently divorced detective Jack Kirby, assigned to protect Bass. It should be the other way around. Genero and his soldiers make the same mistake again and again: they confuse Bass' beauty with weakness. What begins as just another "chick-in-danger" caper--tough cop saving a hooker with a heart of gold--evolves into a much more complex tale of ambition and revenge. It all revolves around Bass, who is first presented as a victim but is soon revealed to be an opportunist. She's among the truly unique protagonists to appear in recent crime fiction and certainly the most forceful woman. Readers will be hard pressed to forget either her or this first-rate thriller. Wes Lukowsky

Jack Kirby has his own issues to deal with in Elliott's latest, which describes Kirby's assignment to protect a beautiful witness to a gruesome Mafia-related murder. Kirby's inner conflicts, relating to the death of his young daughter, take a back seat to the investigation and the anticipated arrest of Mafia boss Vincent Genero. Elliott (Cold, Cold Heart, LJ 1/94) keeps the reader guessing with a quick pace and the consistent addition of new secrets between characters, which elicits many twists and turns throughout. As exciting as this novel is, the ending is a disappointment. The story builds to an incredible climax that leaves the reader gasping, but the last few chapters elicit only a sigh. Recommended for public libraries or wherever suspense fiction is acquired.?Stacey Reasor, ITT Technical Inst. Lib., Tampa, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.