Ghostman

Ghostman
by Roger Hobbs
Knopf, 2013.  321 pgs.  Mystery

Jack (for the moment, and with shifting last names) is a bad, bad man, but more along the lines of an anti-hero rather than a truly evil man.  He has robbed banks, armored cars, and pretty much anything with money in it.  He doesn't like to kill people unless he has to, but "it's not as bad as you might think." But Jack's specialty is as a ghostman, someone who cleans up messes, makes people disappear who need to disappear, is off-the-grid invisible himself and helps others take it on the lam as well.  Marcus Hayes, on the other hand, is truly wicked and as our story begins, asks Jack to clean up a major mess made when two of his men rob an armored car at a casino entrance, are ambushed, but make it away with  the loot . . . and a federal payload timed to explode in 48 hours. On the other side of this scary equation is The Wolf, an even worse guy than Marcus, who is also after the money which was taken in his territory. How Jack plays both sides against each other, and also manages to save his own miserable hide,  is the thread of this richly entertaining, breakneck, intellectual thriller.  This book is a sweet, fast ride through a very violent theme park.  Beware.

LW