Blood Father

January 31, 2005
Returning to the territory he mined so well in Martini Shot
and Hot Plastic
, Craig pens a rollicking if formulaic tale of a father coming to terms with his past and a daughter confronting her demons as they go on the lam from a Tijuana drug cartel. After shooting her mob-boss boyfriend, Jonah, in the midst of a drug heist, Lydia Carson turns to the only person she has left to trust—her Hell's Angel-with-a-heart-of-gold father, John Link. Lydia and John have been estranged more than a decade while he's been doing time for homicide. Raised by her mother and a series of grotesque stepfathers, Lydia has fallen into an ever-deepening cycle of drug abuse and delinquency. But together father and daughter dodge the cops, who want Lydia in connection with a murder she didn't commit, as well as Jonah's old gang, who want revenge for reasons unclear until the end, all the while making up for those lost years. As with Craig's previous books, this is, at heart, an exploration of what it means to be family. After John gives Lydia her first lesson on driving a motorcycle, he realizes that "all the weight of his own history... could finally have a purpose" if only he can help his daughter out of the mess she's made. It's moments like this that raise the book above its Hollywood cliché plot and make it an engaging, affecting read. Agent, Nat Sobel.

February 15, 2005
Lydia Carson, age 17, has managed to get herself mixed up with the wrong people: her boyfriend, an older man, is obviously not on the right side of the law. When he takes her along on a job and then insists that Lydia shoot someone (as a character-building exercise), Lydia does exactly that--but instead of the intended victim, she shoots her boyfriend. Now, on the run from his colleagues (cohorts?), she turns to the only person who can help: her long-estranged father, newly sprung from prison and trying to turn his life around. Unfortunately, the only way to protect his daughter is to plunge right back into his old life. This father-and-daughter tale, recast as a fast-paced thriller, solidifies the author's reputation as a writer with a fresh and vivid point of view. Its theme of family reconciliation will especially appeal to readers who like their thrillers to be about more than just good guys and bad guys.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)