Peter Ash, an ex-Marine battling PTSD claustrophobia, responds to a friend's request for short-term help in Denver's booming marijuana business. As part of a four-man security team transporting cash to a secret storage site, he ends up killing four people and being the sole survivor of a hijacking gone badly awry. Soon he is the target of the mysterious Big Dog and a conspiracy involving a ruthless billionaire who hires others to get his way—including murder. Coming to help are Ash's girlfriend June and gangster friend Louis. After June is kidnapped and Louis is shot, Ash heads to a confrontation in a blizzard, in which he has only himself to rely on. Like Robert Parker's Spenser, Ash is a self-contained, unstoppable force with very useful friends. Vividly troubled yet likable, he intrigues the reader even while managing to save a little part of his world—again. VERDICT The action in this third outing (after Burning Bright) is nonstop; the drug scene is timely; the characters, including the villains, are deftly drawn, and the tension keeps rising. [See Prepub Alert, 7/24/17.]—Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

After The Drifter (ITW Thriller Award winner for Best First Novel) and Burning Bright, troubled veteran Peter Ash finds relief from his stress with a new case: helping a Denver security company that protects wealthy cannabis entrepreneurs from those who would lift their money.

Thriller Award–winner Petrie's propulsive third Peter Ash novel (after 2017's Burning Bright) finds the hyperresourceful Marine veteran in Colorado, helping old friend Henry Nygaard's Heavy Metal Protection team deliver a truckload of medical marijuana to Denver-area shops. Later, on a mountain road, hijackers ambush the truck and seize the money collected in Denver. Peter, the only team member to survive the violent encounter, manages to kill several hijackers and elude the rest. Eager to avenge his friends, Peter sets out to recover the stolen money and uncover the conspiracy behind the theft. With the help of Lewis, his faithful ex-Marine sidekick, and girlfriend June Cassidy—both as fearless as Peter himself—many bones are broken and gallons of blood are spilled in seeing justice done. The final hand-to-hand battle between Peter and the psychotic villain, involving a variety of guns, axes, and even a hammer, is a violent pièce de résistance. Petrie is a master of orchestrating convincing mayhem. Author tour. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. (Jan.)