Marshall's Law

February 13, 2017
Sanders’s adrenaline-charged second thriller starring ex-NYPD cop Marshall Grade (American Blood) opens with the kidnapping of U.S. marshal Lucas Cohen near Santa Fe, N.Mex. Cohen’s abductors want to know only one thing—Marshall’s location. After killing one kidnapper and escaping, Cohen phones Marshall to warn him. Marshall and Cohen go to New York City to discover who has put the price on Marshall’s head. The prime suspect is Chloe Asaro, a woman whom Marshall once loved and also once shot. Meanwhile, Dexter Vine, who’s leading the various small-time criminals searching for Marshall, hopes to use the $5 million bounty to pay off Chinese mobsters. No one emerges from this story unscathed, and the brutal violence features duct tape and shattered glass almost as prominently as blood and bullets. Amid all the mayhem, Sanders takes care to develop his viewpoint characters as distinct individuals. Hollywood has optioned American Blood, and this sequel continues that novel’s cinematic level of action and excitement. Agent: Dan Myers, Word/Link Literary Agency.

February 15, 2017
Somebody wants to be rid of Marshall Gradeso bad that there's a whopping 5 million on offer to anybody who can deliver the ex-cop, dead or alive. That's the heart of this bloody-minded novel, though author Sanders reveals it almost obliquely in chapters that seem to be about something else. First comes the hijacking of a prisoner transport, and only at the end of this wild sequence do we learn what the hijackers really wanted: Marshall's whereabouts. Then we meet Marshall himself, whose curiosity about the hijacking has him looking up an old druggie source who just might plan to sell him out. But not to whoever's offering the reward but to a minor-league felon who could use the money to settle his debt to some really scary people. As the plot coils its way to the hyperviolent conclusion, we meet a few characters and encounter a few scenes we could have done without. But Sanders' vivid prose keeps us reading. An ache is a deep-tissue throb tuned to his heartbeat. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)