Trial by Ice and Fire

June 2, 2003
Special Agent Antonio "Anton" Burns (The Edge of Justice) returns in another offbeat combo of mountain-climbing adventure and police thriller. Going through a rough patch with longtime lady love Rebecca, Anton is assigned the job of protecting a beautiful Wyoming prosecutor (and daughter of a Hollywood star), Cali Morrow, who is being menaced by an unknown stalker. Both Cali and Anton are recreational climbers, and on an afternoon climbing and skiing in the Rockies, Cali makes no secret of her attraction to Anton. He is tempted, but other matters preoccupy him. His fugitive brother, Roberto, overdue to turn himself in to the authorities, is hiding out in the woods behind Anton's remote cabin. And because of a recent high-profile incident in which Anton rashly shot at an assailant, he is disliked by much of the local citizenry and saddled with the nickname QuickDraw. The stalker suspects are Cali's ex-boyfriend (gruff cop Wokowski) and a nervous nerd named Myron Armalli, who may be only an obsessed fan. McKinzie shuffles these characters and puts Cali in jeopardy more than once (there's a harrowingly believable description of a mini-avalanche and its aftermath), leading Anton to much self-flagellation and soul-searching. Midway through, the stalker makes his move and the novel switches to McKinzie's forte: action, adventure and a multilayered chase and rescue. Like its hero, the book is erratic, but fires on all cylinders when it's at its best.

May 1, 2003
Antonio Burns, DCI Special Agent and amateur rock climber, returns for his third outing, a sequel to the author's debut novel, "The Edge of Justice," published last year. ("Point of Law," which recently appeared as a mass-market original, is a prequel to that one). Burns' assignment seems simple enough: protect Cali Morrow, a prosecutor who is being threatened by a stalker. But Cali is a beautiful woman with a taste for adventure (like, say, rock climbing), and Burns and his girlfriend have lately grown apart; Cali is also the daughter of a Hollywood star, which makes her a high-profile target, and her ex-lover is not only a suspect but he is also a member of Burns' antidrug task force, which means Antonio has to work with him. The author, a former prosecutor (and avid rock climber), plays the complications off against each other, using one to distract us from the others while he cleverly builds his story. The novel unfolds like an elegant juggling act, and McKinzie's literary gymnastics pay off splendidly. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)