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Any way you slice it, cult movie star Max Conroy is screwed when he sneaks out of his Arizona rehab center. Now clean of alcohol and drugs but suffering from hallucinations, the lead actor in the V.A.M. Pyre Chronicles is the unwitting object of an elaborate murder plot—conceived by those closest to him, including his beautiful actress wife and his agent, who are having an affair and hope to get rich from his estate. As Max tries to outrun the cabal’s eerily deadly assassin, Shaun, and her 12-year-old protege, Jimmy, he’s kidnapped for ransom by three amateurs. Fortunately, Max has physical as well as acting skills, plus the help of Police Deputy Tess McCrae, who has both a remarkable memory and a “spidey sense” that alerts her to danger. And there’s plenty of that, notably from Shaun, who continues to elude Max when he takes the offensive, and the authorities. Black, author of the Laura Cardinal crime-fiction series, has a corker here, a fast read full of nonstop action with a rising body count. Let’s hope this spawns a series of its own. — Michele Leber