A Delicate Matter

September 15, 2016
In the latest Jack Taggart mystery, Easton reintroduces a character from 2007's Above Ground: Damien Zabat, leader of the notorious biker gang Satan's Wrath and one of Taggart's worst enemies. The aging Zabat is grooming his son, Buck, to take his place as leader of the gang, and this gives undercover cop Taggart an idea. Armed with evidence that could put Buck behind bars for a long time, he gives Zabat an ultimatum: cough up information about a global drug ring, or say goodbye to his boy forever. The plan doesn't go the way Taggart thought it would; he thinks well on his feet, and unexpected complications are opportunities for improvisation and right-angle thinking. Easton, a former undercover cop with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, fills the Taggart books with the kind of precise, accurate detail that gives the series an authenticity rare in crime fiction. Another fine entry in a series that's been running since 2005 and shows no signs of tiring.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)