Bloodfire

Fred Carver #5

by John Lutz

Series hero PI Fred Carver guards a client's heroin-addict wife in this quick and jaunty read. At first, Robert Ghostly seems sincerely worried about Elizabeth, but Carver develops doubts after he is nearly hit by a bullet that kills Elizabeth's sister. Then he learns that his client, who is really Roberto Gomez, one of Florida's most brutal drug dealers, blames the stillbirth of a son on his wife's habit. Roberto wants revenge, but Carver wants out--until beautiful Elizabeth turns up and begs him to help her. After discovering that she was never an addict and that her son is alive, Carver altruistically agrees. Together they drive to a motel in the wilds of Florida, where Elizabeth, who is black, infuriates a pair of rednecks who then add to their problems. Fortunately for Carver and Elizabeth, Roberto is being followed by a cop. While failing to build up much suspense, Lutz ( Flame ) supplies a credible twist at the end of this absorbing tale.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Detective

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.

His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.

Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.

Reviews

[Mim-Is-Reading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book 5, and I can’t get past the number of reprehensible characters in a single book! I also didn't think Carver was the stand-up guy he had been in the first book.

[Magpie67 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Character Fred Carver was a likable guy for starting at book 5. Yes, I was duped when I picked it up at the library and the bind of the book said book 1. Oh well, I think I will go backwards to book one and see if I want to continue this series or not. The story itself was pretty good for a drug lord/DEA situation. I just saw some holes in the game plan and I think too many other characters were added at mid-term. Plus, there seemed to be too many dirty characters to be credible.

[Eliana]

Keeps you hooked til the very end every time. P.I. thriller/mystery.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carver was hired to find a missing wife, turned out the wife was trying to get away from a drug dealer.

[Mikebee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid, excellent characters, nice unpredictable plot. Taps a veil of loss, and explores relationships. A worthy match to Robert Parker's work.