A group of vacationing New Yorkers, including a cop, find the temptation too great when they discover millions of dollars in cash and cocaine aboard a disabled vessel floating on Bahamian waters. Reprint.
Mr. McGarrity was born in Holyoke, Mass., and graduated from Brown University in 1966. He studied for his master's degree at Trinity College, Dublin, and never tired of mining the country for material.
''One of the things they gave me,'' he once said of his books, ''is a chance to go back to Ireland time and time again to do research.''
He was also an avid outdoorsman, and since 1996 worked at The Star-Ledger of Newark as a features writer and columnist under the McGarrity name, specializing in nature and outdoor recreation. While continuing to produce McGarr novels, sometimes at the rate of one a year, Mr. McGarrity produced several articles a week for the newspaper. He wrote about a variety of topics ranging from environmental issues to the odd characters he encountered in his travels, like an Eastern European immigrant who grew up watching cowboy movies and found his dream job playing Wyatt Earp in an amusement park in rural New Jersey.
Two old friends, Nathanson and Creach, are on their way to a drug deal: the big one, the last one. They don't need the money as they have had a very successful career. Until now. They soon realize that the seaplane is in place ahead of them and it looks like it belongs to the Romeros brothers who screwed them in the past. Not good. The two of them get pretty well hurt, lose one crew member but kill all of the Colombian bad guys. Next morning, three couples bareboat chartering in the Bahamas, come across the power boat, dead bodies, weapons, cocaine and 2.4 million dollars. So who wouldn't take the money and the coke? Well, probably most of us. But one of these guys is a Chief Cicciolino of NYPD and he's had enough exposure to know how to take care of things.
There is so much action in the first 60 pages of this book that I had to catch my breath before I continued on with the next 400 pages. The central theme is "Greed kills." And does it kill. There are a lot of people to keep track of and as many schemes. The Colombians send a sicaria to recover the money and to kill everyone-- Nathanson and Creach, the six people on the charter boat and all witnesses. Meanwhile Chief Cicciolino schemes to set up the largest drug deal in New York City involving the top dealer in East Harlem. This book reads like a really good action flick. I don't know if they could pull it off as a movie, but I'd love to see them try. Meanwhile, if you can find a copy of this book, pick it up! I think you'll enjoy the adventure.