Dead Heat: 2

by Arthur F. Nehrbass

Arthur F. Nehrbass's debut novel, Dead Easy, was hailed by critics as "grippingly realistic," "tightly wound," and "absolutely authentic." Now Nehrbass returns with Dead Heat, a chilling novel that pits the Mafia world of multimillion-dollar rip-offs and cold-blooded murders against a massive FBI investigation. At the center of the story is Vincent Strollo, a fallen star of the New York Cosa Nostra who has been sent to south Florida on a Family assignment that offers him the chance of redemption. It is an assignment he will do anything - or destroy anyone - to carry out. But the Family members are not the only ones scrutinizing Strollo as he goes about his dirty business of twisting arms to put together a scam worth millions to the Mafia through intricate looting. An FBI task force under the command of Al Lawrence, a special agent wise in the ways of the Mafia, desperately tries to penetrate Strollo's expertly woven curtain of secrecy. But Lawrence has to fight on another front when he learns that one of his own people may be involved with a flood of cocaine pouring into the south Florida drug scene. Thus the stage is set for a novel that crackles with tension and violence. The inner workings and power struggles of the Mafia and the frustrations and fury of an FBI up against cruel odds in a never-ending struggle are captured with spine-chilling immediacy. Vividly created characters include not only the savagely skilled Strollo and his relentless stalker, Al Lawrence, but a Mafia wife desperate to liberate herself, a beautiful real estate broker who cannot resist the sensual spell of a macho mobster, a brilliant lawyer drawn step by step into a quagmire of lawlessness, a crackerjack hit man caught in an agonizing wringer of divided loyalties, and others who are riveting in their raw reality. Once again Arthur F. Nehrbass proves himself a master thriller writer, a lawman-turned-novelist who knows not only where the bodies are buried, but also who put them there.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1994