One of the Wicked

Psychologist and talk show host Mick Callahan owes his buddy from the Navy Seals. Big time. So when Bud “Bone” Stone comes asking for help, Callahan, despite some problems of his own, simply cannot refuse. It seems Stone cut some corners trying to make a fast buck. Now he’s a big mess involving some small time con men, a lot of missing money, and a Vegas wise guy. It all seems simple at first. “Bone” just wants Callahan to an eye on his ex-mistress, a girl named Brandi DeLillo. He can’t be around to do it himself, because has to find a couple hundred thousand dollars to pay off mob boss Big Paul Pesci.

Callahan reluctantly agrees to watch the girl. He summons his eccentric friends to assist, and tries to get back to his career. But when Bud Stone decides the fastest way to fix the problem is to steal drug money from a local gang leader, all hell breaks loose. A surprising new character enters Mick’s life. Brandi DeLillo disappears. Mick gets kidnapped, beaten and dragged to the construction site of an eye-popping new casino in Nevada’s Valley of Fire. There are sinister strippers, murdered goons and weird bodyguards. We meet a giant European hit man and a mysterious gambler called ET. Once again, poor Mick is up to his neck in violence. Only this time he’s also on the run from both the mob and the law.

One of the Wicked, the third novel in the Mick Callahan series, is a page-turning and compulsively readable thriller that will keep you guessing to the very last scene.