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Max Strong Thrillers #2
Bottom of the World
The second pulse-pounding thriller featuring Max Strong.
Max is a wanted man. Again. Only this time he's innocent. Mostly. Refusing to be the fall guy, he fled Essex, witness protection, and some sticky questions about dead bodies and a missing suitcase. Now, he's a fugitive just trying to piece together a life in the margins.
Mr. Smith is a man that specializes in discretely taking care of problems. Kate Sanders is a PI that's going broke and trying to get her dead father's voice out of her head. Alexei Yushkin is still alive but walks with a limp and carries a deep grudge. Mike Duffy is a small town reporter in danger of cracking a case too wide open. Carter is just a psycho. Danny is the idiot that crossed Carter.
They all want to find Max.
After a brutal beating reopens old wounds in Essex, the pressure mounts for Max to stop hiding and come back.
Nobody can run forever.
Max is a wanted man. Again. Only this time he's innocent. Mostly. Refusing to be the fall guy, he fled Essex, witness protection, and some sticky questions about dead bodies and a missing suitcase. Now, he's a fugitive just trying to piece together a life in the margins.
Mr. Smith is a man that specializes in discretely taking care of problems. Kate Sanders is a PI that's going broke and trying to get her dead father's voice out of her head. Alexei Yushkin is still alive but walks with a limp and carries a deep grudge. Mike Duffy is a small town reporter in danger of cracking a case too wide open. Carter is just a psycho. Danny is the idiot that crossed Carter.
They all want to find Max.
After a brutal beating reopens old wounds in Essex, the pressure mounts for Max to stop hiding and come back.
Nobody can run forever.
368 pages, Paperback
Published March 16, 2022
About the author
Mike Donohue
15 books14 followersMike Donohue writes crime fiction, suspense and thriller novels. He is the author of four novels, two novellas, and a short story collection.
The Max Strong crime series is about a reformed thief and criminal trying to put a lot of tragedy and blood behind him and live a quiet life. It doesn’t go so well (does it ever?) and Max needs to figure out if he can really leave his past behind and get free. Or if he needs to embrace it and maybe destroy whatever is left of himself.
Mike lives outside Boston with my wife, two kids and Dashiell Hammett.
Dash is the family dog.
The Max Strong crime series is about a reformed thief and criminal trying to put a lot of tragedy and blood behind him and live a quiet life. It doesn’t go so well (does it ever?) and Max needs to figure out if he can really leave his past behind and get free. Or if he needs to embrace it and maybe destroy whatever is left of himself.
Mike lives outside Boston with my wife, two kids and Dashiell Hammett.
Dash is the family dog.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 11, 2020
I enjoyed this book in the series, but not as much as the first.
August 30, 2020
Bottom of the World
Wow! Another great read! Got one more book to go and sure hope I find out more about Kate and Duffy and that Max comes out of all this mess ok.
Wow! Another great read! Got one more book to go and sure hope I find out more about Kate and Duffy and that Max comes out of all this mess ok.
September 25, 2021
Good read.
July 8, 2025
A real page turner
All well thought out. If you want action, suspense, and never guessing the end this book is for you. Max fight to the end.
All well thought out. If you want action, suspense, and never guessing the end this book is for you. Max fight to the end.
January 8, 2021
I read the first in this series ...
...thought it was pretty good, so I have now read this one, the second. It is not at all of the quality of the first. Too many run-on sentences and typos, for one thing. There are also several elements of the plot that are so unnecessary. Robbing a bank? What was that about, and why? Toward the end of the book there are pretty serious plot mistakes. The things which take place in the condo scene at the end don't make any sense if they are in total darkness, which the author makes a point to tell us about. And the cabin the woods. On one page Duffy is taken downstairs and locked in an old wine cellar, then a few pages later he is found in an UPSTAIRS closet. If those things had happened earlier in the book I would not have bothered to finish. It seemed that the whole book was rushed to market and not enough time given for editing. So, while I read the first two of this series, I won't read the third. There are too many well-written books out there to waste time like this.
...thought it was pretty good, so I have now read this one, the second. It is not at all of the quality of the first. Too many run-on sentences and typos, for one thing. There are also several elements of the plot that are so unnecessary. Robbing a bank? What was that about, and why? Toward the end of the book there are pretty serious plot mistakes. The things which take place in the condo scene at the end don't make any sense if they are in total darkness, which the author makes a point to tell us about. And the cabin the woods. On one page Duffy is taken downstairs and locked in an old wine cellar, then a few pages later he is found in an UPSTAIRS closet. If those things had happened earlier in the book I would not have bothered to finish. It seemed that the whole book was rushed to market and not enough time given for editing. So, while I read the first two of this series, I won't read the third. There are too many well-written books out there to waste time like this.
April 15, 2021
Bottom of the World - a review by Rosemary Kenny
Book 2 begins with our Jack Reacher-like anti-hero, Michael Sullivan/aka Max Strong, working at Bob's Lakeside diner, under the alias Matt Diver. Bad people from his past are looking for Max Strong and they have no scruples about the physical trauma they inflict on Max's former donut shop boss, Stan, or even his brother Danny, who's in trouble with his drug supplier and tries to save himself by betraying Max. When Kate and Duffy succeed in finding Max, will all three survive a second deadly trap set by his enemies?
Mike Donohue's imagination and skill as an author will give you the truth right before your eyes - and even then you might not quite believe it... it's so good, you'll be sorry Bottom Of The World is finished - and be eager for the next great Max Strong adventure!
Book 2 begins with our Jack Reacher-like anti-hero, Michael Sullivan/aka Max Strong, working at Bob's Lakeside diner, under the alias Matt Diver. Bad people from his past are looking for Max Strong and they have no scruples about the physical trauma they inflict on Max's former donut shop boss, Stan, or even his brother Danny, who's in trouble with his drug supplier and tries to save himself by betraying Max. When Kate and Duffy succeed in finding Max, will all three survive a second deadly trap set by his enemies?
Mike Donohue's imagination and skill as an author will give you the truth right before your eyes - and even then you might not quite believe it... it's so good, you'll be sorry Bottom Of The World is finished - and be eager for the next great Max Strong adventure!
November 20, 2019
Max is always looking over his shoulder. That's the life he lives ... being on the run. He returns "home" when his brother calls for help. Mr. Smith hired Kate to find Max - can she?
Mr. Donohue has filled this novel with some fantastic imagery and has a great tie-in to "Shaking the Tree," the first book in this series. Give it a read. I think this is his best Max Strong yet!
Mr. Donohue has filled this novel with some fantastic imagery and has a great tie-in to "Shaking the Tree," the first book in this series. Give it a read. I think this is his best Max Strong yet!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews