A Dangerous Breed
A Novel
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4.5 • 80 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
"Atmospheric and taut, A Dangerous Breed is a winner." — Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author
Van Shaw’s past and present collide when an ingenious blackmailer pushes him to the brink in this electrifying fifth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s gritty and emotionally powerful thriller series.
An invitation addressed to his long-dead mother sparks Van Shaw’s curiosity about the woman he barely knew. As he digs into young Moira Shaw's past, he uncovers startling details about her life, including her relationship to a boy named Sean Burke—a boy Moira may have been seeing when she became pregnant. Could this Burke be the biological father who abandoned Van before he was born? Although Van knows all too well that some doors shouldn’t be opened, he decides to investigate the man—only to discover that Burke has an even darker family history than Van's own.
But Van’s got more immediate problems. His friend Hollis is in a jam, and helping him out accidentally steers Van into the path of a master extortionist named Bilal Nath. Nath demands that the talented thief mastermind a daring heist targeting a Seattle biotechnology firm, or the blackmailer will destroy the lives of people Van loves. Will Van be forced to steal a viral weapon with the potential to kill thousands?
With Bilal Nath coercing him into a possible act of domestic terrorism, Van turns to his formidable crew of lawbreaking friends—including Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard's sly and seductive niece Elana—for help. Yet even this team may not be enough. To outwit a brilliant sociopath, Van might just need a cold-blooded killer . . . a criminal whose blood may run through his own veins.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Edgar finalist Hamilton's exceptional fifth novel featuring professional thief Van Shaw (after 2019's Mercy River), Van runs afoul of hacker Bilal Nath, who threatens to harm Van's adoptive family unless Van agrees to steal an unknown item from a Seattle biotechnology company. Van assumes it's a cure for Nath's ALS, but discovers instead that the company holds the only viable cryogenically preserved ova of Nath's wife, Aura, who became sterile after undergoing chemo for ovarian cancer. The couple hope to have a child. Meanwhile, Van is trying to find his unknown father, who may have abandoned him and his mother 30 years earlier. This personal quest leads Van to a dangerous Ukrainian arms dealer. A former U.S. Army Ranger, Van is highly capable, but he's not ridiculously so, and he's ready to accept assistance from others, including new friend Wren Marchand, who helps get him out of more than one jam. Action sequences nicely balance planning and surveillance scenes, and plenty of surprises keep readers guessing. Hamilton makes the connections among his satisfyingly realized characters seem so natural that the whole feels like something that might actually happen. Hopefully, Van will be back soon.
