Straight Shot

The town is called Alencourt, it’s in France, and Tom Keeler’s mother used to spend her summers there as a kid. Which is why he takes the train to Alencourt after receiving his discharge from the US Air Force. Maybe he’ll meet a relative, or someone who knew his mom. But, it doesn’t exactly work out like that, he’s in town for less than an hour and three men try to kill him. Nice place, nice try.

Keeler’s not too bothered by the attempted murder, he’s more interested in his mom’s elderly cousin Simone, still living in the family house where she takes care of her sick husband Gilles. Turns out, Gilles hasn’t recovered from being attacked recently by local troublemakers. 

It’s a sad story, but not really Tom Keeler’s business. He could just walk away, get back on the train and go south, maybe to Spain, hit the beach for the winter and take it from there. But he finds himself drawn him back to Alencourt. Perhaps it’s the beautiful French policewoman, Cecile Nazari, who informs Keeler that the attack on him was a case of mistaken identity. Or maybe, it’s the fact that the people who attacked him might be the same people who attacked his cousin Gilles, leaving him with permanent brain damage.

Or maybe it’s the connection Keeler finds between these attacks and reports of asylum seeking girls from the Middle East going missing in the area. 

Whatever the reason, Tom Keeler becomes interested in the situation, which isn’t great news for the bad people preying on the weak and defenseless. They thought they could get away with it, but they never counted on coming up against Keeler.

If you enjoy Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, and Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, you won't be able to put down the compulsively addictive Tom Keeler series by Jack Lively.