Head Wounds: A Kevin Kerney Novel (Paperback)
Clayton Istee, son of retired police chief Kevin Kerney, goes up against an elusive Mexican hitman in a mesmerizing story of murder, revenge, and redemption.
Given a chance to salvage his law enforcement career, Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Detective Clayton Istee catches a bizarre late-night double homicide at a Las Cruces hotel. Both victims, a man and a woman, have been scalped with their throats cut.
The murders show all the signs of a signature hit, but national and state crime databases reveal no similar profiles. Digging into the victims’ backgrounds, Clayton discovers that six months prior the couple had walked out of a nearby casino with $200,000 of a high-stakes gambler’s money.
He also learns the crime had been hushed up by an undercover federal DEA agent, who resurfaces and recruits Clayton for a dangerous mission to seize the Mexican drug lord responsible for the killings.
Thrust into the nightmare world of borderland drug wars and corrupt cops, Clayton duels with a cunning assassin poised to kill him and his family in a ferocious climax to the Kevin Kerney series that is sure to stun.
— Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
A shattering conclusion to a much-praised series. Starts with a shocker. Ends with a stunner. The strength of the characters matches the power of the action scenes.
— David Morrell, New York Times best-selling author of First Blood
Michael McGarrity is a master, and his latest mind-blower does not disappoint. I always rush to his work, then wait anxiously for another.
— Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels
Masterful. McGarrity hones a tale sharper than a villain’s scalping knife while bringing the Southwest setting to life with every stroke.
— Dwight Holing, author of The Sorrow Hand
Superior prose, expert plotting, and believable characters make this a standout. Fans of gritty crime novels will be rewarded.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)