Wolf's Revenge

Book excerpt: “Full of revelations, surprises and shocks,” the fifth Leo Maxwell mystery pits the underdog defense attorney against an unforgiving prison gang (Bookreporter). Lachlan Smith’s Shamus Award–winning series continues with attorney-detective Leo Maxwell seeking an exit strategy from his family’s deepening entanglement with a ruthless prison-based gang. Caught between the criminals and the FBI, Leo charts his own path in defending a young woman who was manipulated into brazenly murdering a member of the Aryan Brotherhood in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. When the consequences strike heartbreakingly close to home, Leo, his brother Teddy, and the rest of the family are forced into a winner-takes-all confrontation with men who don’t care how many innocents they harm in achieving their goals. As Leo’s world collapses, long-held secrets are revealed, transforming his perspective on the aftermath of the tragedy that derailed his childhood and fractured his family twenty-one years ago. The question then becomes who will get revenge first—the Maxwells or the sadistic gang leader who pursues them? “In its complexity, Wolf’s Revenge might remind a reader of a John le Carré novel; few are who they seem to be. Spies and double agents abound. This novel has action, some violence, but its real strengths are its intricacy and some rather dispiriting revelations about our criminal justice system.” —Tuscaloosa News “Operating at the top of his game, Smith is as good as anyone writing today at combining a mystery with the overlay of existential dread that noir fans relish.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)