Walk Away

November 14, 2016
In Hawken’s competent if predicable sequel to 2015’s The Night Charter, former combat medic, martial arts expert, and all-around badass Camaro Espinoza is maintaining a quiet under-the-radar existence in Miami, where she runs a small charter fishing boat. Then she receives a coded distress message from her sister, Annabel, who has escaped a complicated past and now lives under an assumed name in Carmel, Calif. Annabel’s boyfriend, Jacob Collier, has become increasingly violent and abusive, and she has begun to fear for her life. Camaro races across country to her sister’s aid. In Carmel, she learns that Lukas Collier, Jake’s brother, has recently jumped bail and is wanted for murder. An ex-Marine combat vet, Lukas is also a stone psychopath and soon sets his sights on Annabel and Camaro. Hawken is a talented writer and knows how to construct a fine page-turner, but this outing doesn’t quite match the depth and soul of his borderland novels (Missing, etc.). Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

November 15, 2016
Hawken continues the exploits of Camaro Espinoza, a tough female former Army medic, in this shoot-'em-up, action-packed installment set in the sleepy communities that ring Los Angeles.Camaro's younger sister, Annabel, has finally broken free of her abusive boyfriend, Jake Collier, but she can't get him to leave. She talks her sister into coming to her aid, but while Camaro's straightening him out, Jake's big brother, Lukas, is busy murdering the bail bondsman who tried to take him into custody in Denver. Meanwhile, Camaro faces off with Jake at his job in a local lumberyard and things don't go down well for him. As Lukas works his way closer to California to finalize a scheme with his brother, he drags behind him a trail of people set on revenge, including Yates, the father of the bail bondsman he killed, and Way, a deputy U.S. marshal whose partner he murdered. As Camaro seeks to protect her sister, Way and Yates find themselves on opposite sides of Camaro's cooperation even though all three of them seek the same resolution. Plenty of guns and fisticuffs, as well as a twisty trail to follow, fill this action enthusiast's tale. And Hawken certainly knows how to keep the action going: Camaro goes from scrape to scrape with barely enough time to treat her own wounds and regroup before the next ambush or assault. But while Hawken writes excellent action/adventure, where he falls down is in bringing his characters to life. Camaro is basically a man with breasts: there's nothing about her that feels female (although her sister is as domestic as Betty Crocker). The bad guys--Lukas the killer and Way the deputy U.S. marshal--are so deranged they devolve into caricatures. Only Yates, the old man whose son has died, resonates as a human being. While action's fine when it's plentiful, more attention to character development could have made Camaro more relatable and provided both villains with some badly needed dimension.

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November 1, 2016
Here's what happened to a fellow who got on the wrong side of Camaro Espinoza. She gripped his forearm like a baseball bat and cranked it hard at the same moment she pivoted her hips into his. Then a few kicks to the head, snapping his skull around violently. Neither shenor wetake the time to ponder that her behavior is mighty illegal, because it's that kind of novel: fast, violent, and starring a lead character with a private code, and to hell with those law books. Camaro like the car is a former combat medic and martial-arts expert pulled into bounty hunting, arms sales, murder, and revenge, and it's to Hawken's credit that he keeps a complex plot coherent and a large cast easily identifiable. Like a good action hero, Camaro is solitary, vengeful, and fond of beer and motorcyclesa female tough guy who defies stereotypes with engaging bravado. Hawken calls her a lean, mean thrilling machine. He's nailed it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)