Deep Dirty Truth
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
DIVSingle-mother Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson returns in another nail-biting, high-voltage read. When Lori is kidnapped, and her family threatened, she has 48 hours to save them … or lose everything… ‘A real cracker' Mark Billingham ‘My kind of book' Lee Child ‘Like Midnight Run, but much darker … really, really good' Ian Rankin –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A price on her head. A secret worth dying for. 48 hours to expose the truth… Single-mother bounty-hunter Lori Anderson finally has her family back together, but her new-found happiness is shattered when she's snatched by the Miami Mob – and they want her dead. Rather than a bullet, they offer her a job: find the Mob's ‘numbers man' who's in protective custody after being forced to turn federal witness against them. If Lori succeeds, they'll wipe the slate clean and the price on her head – and those of her family – will be removed. If she fails, they die. With North due in court in 48 hours, Lori sets off across Florida, racing against the clock to find him and save her family. Only in this race the prize is more deadly – and the secret she shares with JT more dangerous – than she ever could have imagined. In this race only the winner gets out alive… –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ‘Lori thinks with viper-like speed, speaks with strength and acts from her gut. Steph Broadribb has constructed a thoroughly believable world full of substantial yet flawed characters. I quite simply love this series, I leap in with total faith and just let myself go. Deep Dirty Truth is a thrilling, assertive and energetic read' LoveReading 'Sharp, thrilling and one hell of a ride. This series just gets better and better!' Chris Whitaker ‘Brilliant and pacey' Steve Cavanagh ‘Perfect for fans of Lee Child and Janet Evanovich' Alex Caan ‘Broadribb's writing is fresh and vivid, crackling with life … an impressive thriller, the kind of book that comfortably sits alongside seasoned pros' Crime Watch ‘Fresh, fast and zinging with energy' Sunday Mirror ‘Romping entertainment that moves faster than a bullet' Sunday Express ‘Stylish with an original take on the lone wolf/bounty hunter theme. This is a novel alive with tension and intriguing twists. … There's a good deal of wit at the expense of the complacent, anachronistic, loud mouthed quick-fisted mobsters. Just a whole hell of a lot of fun' New Books Magazine ‘This is every bit as lively an outing for Broadribb's heroine as its predecessor, and the pace is satisfyingly unrelenting' Barry Forshaw's Book of the Month, CrimeTime ‘Fast-faced, page-turning thriller … It is so refreshing to read a thriller with a female ce
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4 primary books5 released booksLori Anderson is a 5-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Steph Broadribb.
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This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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After all the drama and trauma of her recent past, Lori is taking only easy assignments – her life needs to coast for a bit. Naturally, that's not going to work too well (why would we read about that? Also, why would Broadribb be nice to her now?) – she'd kidnapped by the Miami Mob and we readers have to be braced for all sorts of nasty things to happen to her. And while it is nasty – no one is prepared for what happens to her.
They want her to do a job for them. If she succeeds, they offer to wipe the slate clean. If she fails (or refuses), she, Dakota and JT are dead. Honestly, there's a pretty good chance they'll die no matter what, but there's a chance with the former. All she has to do is retrieve the “numbers man” for the family, currently under FBI protection before he testifies against the family in a couple of days. It's pretty cool to see how good Lori does at this until things go horribly, horribly wrong (not much of a spoiler, really – the book isn't going be too suspenseful if she has an easy time of it).
Meanwhile, JT and Dakota run to safety – which goes only slightly worse than Lori's assignment. JT isn't anywhere near as healthy as he should be to handle this kind of thing – but he doesn't have much of a choice. It's his little girl, what else can he do? It's great to see JT in action like this. But at some point, at the rate things are going for her, Dakota's going to end up catatonic or like the little girl in Logan. My money's on the latter.
So we've got the Mob on one hand, the FBI on the other, and a distinct lack of options for this family – it's all about survival. The longer you're alive the more opportunities will present themselves to extricate yourself from this Catch-22. As much as Lori (and JT and Dakota) is tough and resilient, it's her ability to improvise, to think quickly and to pounce on the chances that life gives her that makes her an action hero to pay attention to.
A female bounty hunter with skills and the kind of grit you want to see in an action hero, Lori is a great character. The physical toll on her in this novel is up there with the psychological toll previous adventures have taken on her – not that she gets out of this one emotionally/mentally unscathed (nor did she get out of the previous adventures without a physical injury or 8). She's smart, determined and prepared to dish it out as well as take it.
I walked away from book 2, Deep Blue Trouble with a pretty strong idea about what book 3 was going to be about. I was wrong, but I'm pretty confident that I know what book 4 will be about (at least initially). I'm very glad to be wrong, actually – because this was a lot of fun, and sets things up to be a more satisfying version of the story I imagined Broadribb would be telling. I'm eager to find out how wrong I am about book 4 (because I will be).
I've spent about a month working on this post in fits and starts, because I'm having a hard time saying something about this book that I didn't say about the other two. Broadribb started off strong – a veteran from the get-go, and the other two have been of the same quality. Consistency is great when you're a reader – but it's hard to write about. So I give up – I'm not going to have anything insightful to say or any dazzling or penetrating analysis to offer. I'll keep it basic – Deep Dirty Truth is a good, fast-paced, white-knuckle ride written by someone who knows what she's doing. Go read it.
