A Killing Night by Jonathon King

Book #4 in the Max Freeman series. Max is working as a regular PI for his lawyer friend Billy Manchester. Right now it’s talking to Philippine workers on that cruise ship with the exploding engine room. Max and Billy are building a class action case against the cruise line while the cruise line has hired a couple idiot thugs to convince the workers that going back home would be the best option. Meanwhile, Max’s former squeeze, Det. Sherry Richards, last seen saving Max’s bacon and taking in the battered wife. In this book, Richards is still a cop, but also works inside a battered women’s shelter protecting the residents in need of protection.

Three female bartenders have just flat disappeared. Vanished without a trace. Richards has Colin O’Shea in her crosshairs. Colin is a former Philadelphia beat cop (along with Max) who was implicated, along with 3 other rat bastard cops of taking liberties with a slow witted cashier in a convenience store. The 3 jerks admitted to their deeds, but Colin clammed up and the girl disappeared.

Colin has surfaced in south Florida and plays the bars, actually knowing a couple of the missing girls. Richards asks Max to check up on him, but Max takes it one step farther and returns to Philly for the first time since abruptly leaving after killing a 12yo store heist suspect.

What Max turns up does not suggest that Colin should be under suspicion. When Max and Richards turn up during a sweep of local bars, Max sees a guy slip out while giving the girl behind the bar a questioning glance. Max’s cop instincts says this guy doesn’t want to be rousted by the cops so Max starting trying to get info out of the barkeep.

The girl’s boyfriend is a local cop who gets off chasing, catching, degrading, raping, and then killing girls. And Max is closing in. He tries to follow the bum, but ends up getting the tables turned on him. That is until the girl tricks the ‘beau’ and gets the location of what might be a graveyard. That forces Richards to finally believe Max and they trap the perp where he is setting up a perimeter during an operation.

When confronted, the creep pulls his weapon and . . . death by cops.

After having a bad outing with the previous book, I decided to choose a title from a known source and King’s Max Freeman fit like comfort food. The back and forth from the Everglades and Philadelphia, between Max and Sherry, between Max and O’Shea is what drives this series. I’m wondering if O’Shea will make more appearances in later books. He’d be a good addition. I will certainly be checking back in.

East Coast Don