Loren Estleman, the author of the Amos Walker noir masterpieces, proves once again he is a master of the form, delivering a superb crime drama starring gritty ex-hit man anti-hero Peter Macklin. In the fifth novel featuring Macklin, our conflicted protagonist performs a precise balancing act between his dark, murderous past and a promising, comfortable future with his beautiful young bride Laurie. Once a loner by necessity of his grisly trade, Macklin had to worry only about his own well-being. Now Macklin has to adjust to married life, a lack of privacy, a new mother-in-law, and, stickiest of all, his mother-in-law's boyfriend, who moonlights as a spotter for a gang of armed robbers. Macklin finds out once more that being a contract killer isn't a job people get to retire from with pension plans and fishing rods; the price of retirement may be a bloody showdown with the boyfriend's gang in a bookstore, with the lives of his loved ones hanging in the balance.