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Bezig met laden... Paid in Spades: A Pat Gallegher Noveldoor Helms Richard
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Thriller Award-winning knight-errant Pat Gallegher (Juicy Watusi, Wet Debt) returns in this steamy, action-drenched New Orleans tale. A failed seminarian, retired forensic psychologist, and disgraced college professor, Gallegher left security behind to become a jazz cornetist in a dive bar off Toulouse Street in New Orleans. To balance the flimsy scales of his brittle karma, Pat Gallegher now finds the irretrievable and protects those who have nowhere left to turn. Gallegher owes Cabby Jacks a debt that can never be repaid, and now Jacks has disappeared. The only clues to his whereabouts are scribbles in an appointment book--a name and a time. At the same time, Gallegher's girlfriend, social worker Merlie Comineau, has asked him to find a young girl's father who needs to give permission for minor surgery, or the girl might be placed in foster care. Juggling two cases, Gallegher encounters an itinerant guitarist with a dangerous past, opportunistic federal agents, a shotgun-toting landlord, hostile oil pipeline workers, Brazilian smugglers, a bumbling private eye, manipulative billionaires, and a diabolical conspiracy. With only his dwindling luck to protect him, any step in this minefield might be Gallegher's last! Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Pat Gallegher makes just enough money to get by, playing his cornet in Holliday’s, a seedy French Quarter watering hole. A gambling addiction caused many of his more recent troubles, but a twelve-step program has helped him reclaim some normalcy, if you can call it that: “One thing about being in a recovery program, you meet the most interesting people.”
One of those interesting people is Cabby Jacks, who got him started in Gamblers Anonymous and insisted he take it seriously. Now Gallegher believes part of his recovery depends on righting the balance in his life by doing what he terms “favors.” He has a particular skill in finding people and things that are lost. One of those people is Cabby Jacks.
History is responsible for Gallegher’s rocky relationships with the cops. But those are balanced by excellent interactions with his woman friend, Merlie, with the bar’s owner, Shorty, and with the other musicians. The dialog in Gallegher’s interactions with friend and foe is full of sly humor, not always appreciated, but sparkling throughout.
Merlie also needs a favor. She runs a shelter for teenage “runaways, throwaways, and other destitute children.” One of her charges needs surgery, but the dad needs to sign the consent and no one can find him. Another job for Gallegher.
Helms builds the tension nicely when tracking down the father leads Gallegher into the swampy wilderness where an oil pipeline is being laid. The hunt for Cabby leads him to a ship docked at the port of New Orleans and unexpected exposure to ultra-violent Brazilian gangs trying for a toe-hold in Louisiana.
Gallegher is not a lone actor here. He gets help from a former Secret Service man and calls on his long-time acquaintance Scat Boudreaux, whom Gallegher believes may be “the most dangerous man in America.” The real dark horse of the piece is a young guitarist who understands more about surveillance and guns than any young musician ought to.
Author Helms has a knack for making all these people vivid and interesting. I could read a whole novel about any of them. The plot edges close to spiraling into unbelievability near the end, but the strength of the writing and the characters keeps it together. ( )