Kill Fee (A Stevens and Windermere Novel)
In this third novel featuring African American FBI Agent Carla Windermere and Minnesota State Police Detective Kirk Stevens (Criminal Enterprise, 2013), Laukkanen again displays his talent for creating once-solid citizens who have devised innovative approaches to crime. This time it’s Parkerson, a tech-savvy business executive and sociopath who realizes that if you can order a pizza online, why not murder? So he develops Kill Switch, a web forum for “gun enthusiasts,” and begins taking orders. For hit men, he seeks out veterans traumatized by war experiences. He abducts them, tortures them with “visions” of violence, and makes them dependent on him to save them from the visions. Windermere and Stevens witness one of his hits, and a chase ensues that crisscrosses the country. But the deepening attraction between Windermere and Stevens—she’s a decade younger, a head taller, beautiful, driven, and volatile; he’s happily married, devoted to his family, and stolid—strains credulity. Plot turns repeatedly rely on federal agencies TSA, DoD, and FAA refusing FBI requests for assistance. These caveats aside, Kill Fee is fast-paced fun. --Thomas Gaughan