Bourbon and Blood

In Garrard Hayes's Bourbon and Blood, the first installment in the Bill Conlin thriller series, this one would get you hooked into it after the first page. Bill Conlin is a former Army Veteran from the war and couldn't find any good work in New York City. That's when his cousin Jimmy tells him about a job working for Francis Sullivan, the same his cousin works for, too. But thing aren't what they seem, when he works for the Irish crime lord. As soon as he meets Dana, a waitress at the diner, things heat up for Bill and Jimmy. It all started with the first assignment and that was going to a Mexican bar with Jimmy. From there, he had been dealt with prostitution, corrupted cops and FBI agents, a drug war between the Mexicans and Russians, and a sex trafficking crime ring. When a fellow associate  gets his cousin hooked on heroin, he sends him to rehab and when to start his new life. With his new partner Kenny, it took a nose dove, when the next assisgnment almost had gotten him killed and put him in a coma. Months later, Kenny stole his girl, when he believed the Russians had kidnapped her and set him up for the murder of the Mexican gang leader. Now he came gunning after the real ring leader with a cheesy cop on the take, when he had to go into hiding and run for his life with vengeance on his mind.

This was a real good crime thriller debut by Garrard Hayes. I did care for Bill Conlin and his cousin Jimmy. I thought Dana was a keeper, but I thought wrong about her and the people he associated him with. I do like the NYC locations and the vivid depictive scene in each settings. This really took me into the novel to get a feel for his world. This had everything you would need in a fast-paced thriller with non-stop action, drama, suspense, intrigue and a lot of mystery. (There's a couple of typos every now and then.)

Will you be ready to taste Bourbon and Blood?