The Heartbreak Lounge - Paperback

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by Wallace Stroby (Author)

Ex-state trooper Harry Rane, who first appeared in Wallace Stroby's brilliant debut novel, The Barbed-Wire Kiss, is at loose ends. Doing some investigative work for a friend's firm just to keep himself busy, Harry meets Nikki Ellis, a woman desperate for help. Her ex, Johnny Harrow, was just released from prison after a seven-year stretch for attempted murder. Nikki hasn't spoken to him since he went down, but she knows what he's capable of, and that he'll be looking for her-and for the baby she put up for adoption after Johnny went away. She knows it's up to her to protect the child once again. And she's afraid.

As Harry finds out, she should be. Johnny is headed home to New Jersey to settle up with anyone who did him wrong while he was gone, including Nikki and his former employer, mobster Joey Alea. Then he's planning to find his son and start a new life.

Johnny starts at the Heartbreak Lounge, where Nikki was a dancer when she first met Johnny, and works his way through their old life, leaving a trail of blood and fear in his wake. Only Harry might be tough enough-or reckless enough-to help her. What happens next shows why the searing talent and explosive writing evident in The Barbed-Wire Kiss was only the beginning, and why Wallace Stroby is destined to be one of the finest crime writers of a generation.

Back Jacket

THEY TOOK JOHNNY'S SON AWAY
After a seven-year stretch inside a Florida penitentiary for attempted murder, Johnny Harrow knows exactly what he'll do when he gets out. He's going home to the shabby Jersey shore town where his girlfriend Nikki made the most selfless decision of her hard life: Giving up their newborn son for adoption. It's time for Johnny to claim what's his...
NOW JOHNNY'S COMING BACK FOR THE KID
Nikki made one terrible mistake--she didn't tell Johnny her decision until the child was gone. She knows Johnny never forgets...or forgives. She also knows what he's capable of. It's up to her to protect the child once again...
BUT ONE MAN STANDS IN HIS WAY
Desperate to save the child from the seething menace that is Johnny Harrow, Nikki turns to former New Jersey state trooper Harry Rane for help. Now, an investigator, Rane must crawl through the darkest corners of the New Jersey underworld to find Johnny and stop him. But Johnny Harrow isn't a man who's often caught unaware...and so the game begins.
"A tightly plotted fireball of suspense...action-paced with unpredictable twists."
--"Florida"" Sun-Sentinel"

Author Biography

Wallace Stroby is an editor for the New Jersey Star Ledger. His first novel, The Barbed-Wire Kiss, was a finalist for the Barry Award for Best First Novel. He lives in New Jersey, where he was born and raised.

Number of Pages: 336

Dimensions: 0.78 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN

Publication Date: November 09, 2009