A third successful outing for Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens and his occasional FBI special agent and younger sidekick Carla Windermere (earlier volumes were The Professionals and Criminal Enterprise). When a local billionaire is assassinated, the cross-country trail weavingly leads to a sinister high tech website advertising murder for hire. It's no longer a matter of identifying the blank-faced killer but also the powers behind the criminal organisation and their motives, whether pecuniary or not. Slick and fast-paced storytelling and likeable characters combine to make this a rapid and involving read and a series that grows on you and is almost ready-made for the smalll screen. Impeccable entertainment perfected with slide rule precision.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens and his sometime colleague FBI special agent Carla Windermere witness the assassination of a local billionaire. The shooter flees the scene, but not before the pair see his face - and the blank expression in his eyes. Stevens and Windermere investigate and are led across the country, down dead ends and into long-forgotten cold cases, until they finally discover a chilling clue: a high tech murder-for-hire website. It's a break in the case but only the beginning. Who is the dead-eyed shooter? Who recruits the assassins? And who profits from the fee? It is a race against the clock, and the killer has his next target in sight...
'Owen Laukkanen's fast-paced, no frills style is brisk, blunt and fuelled entirely by adrenaline' -- New York Times
'Once more, Laukkanen scores one of the thrillers of the year. It will be difficult to top Kill Fee, but one more, I expect he will' -- National Post
'Enthralling... Kill Fee works well as an in-depth police procedural and an insightful look at amorality and greed. Laukkanen employs the same strengths of brisk plotting and incisive character studies that he established in his first two novels.' -- Huffington Post
'A breathtakingly fast-paced tale that seldom pauses for breath... it evokes the language of the street with superb panache' -- Praise for The Professionals, Daily Mail
Author
About Owen Laukkanen
A graduate of the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing program, Owen Laukkanen spent three years in the world of professional poker reporting before turning to fiction. He currently lives in Vancouver.