Smoked [Paperback]

Maine author Patrick Quinlan brings some real bad actors - most, but not all of them, from New York - to Portland in this first novel, a crackling, non-stop action thriller with talented, likable protagonists and a vivid sense of place.

The story opens with one of the protagonists, lovely 25-year-old Lola Bell, about to be raped during what she thought was a modeling-job audition. But Lola was raped once before as a teenager in the Chicago projects, and she swore it would never happen again. Now, in an office on Congress Street, her nine years of martial arts training finally get a work out. When the breathless scene is done two guys who really deserve it lie bleeding on the floor, their cameras smashed, Lola exhilarated.

Lola's roommate thinks she should go to the police or, failing that, at least tell her boyfriend, aging Smoke Dugan, a gentle man in his 50s who walks with a cane. But Lola decides to keep the excitement to herself, despite the fact that these guys have her address.

Smoke has his own secrets. An arsonist and bomb maker from New York who was always careful never to kill anyone, his last bomb was used to bring down a passenger-packed jet. Heartsick, he kills the mafia boss responsible, steals $2.5 million from him, and flees to a quiet life in Portland. But he knows time is running out.

Denny Cruz is a hit man with scary eyes. He works alone so it makes him nervous that two young punks have been sent with him to Portland. Do the mob boys know he's getting tired, thinking of the impossible - retirement? The younger boys get real joy out of killing - though one prefers stealing cars, not that he'd admit it.

The only reason Smoke survives his first encounter with this charming trio is their intent to capture him alive and find out where the money is hidden. His own careful planning and quick wits do the rest. But the hit men know about Lola and karate kicks can't save her this time - or her librarian roommate, a nice girl pining for adventure. The hit men snatch the girls and tell Smoke to give himself up or they die.

There's only one problem. Lola's beaten camera boys arrived on the scene in time to see Lola and her friend shoved into the trunk and they've decided to follow and get in on the action.

Quinlan packs enough twists and turns into this zany chase to keep your pulse pounding. He switches viewpoints among all the characters and gives even the worst of them at least a glimmer of human feeling. His flair for character is as quick and stylish as his deft hand with action and plot. While not every event is 100 percent believable (starting with street-smart Lola being taken in by a couple of dressed-up trailer trash) it's all so clever and fast you'll be delighted to find he leaves room for a sequel.

--Portsmouth Herald

Smoke Dugan is living a life in hiding. As a former explosives expert to the mob, he is on the lam for stealing 2.5 million dollars from a mob boss before killing him. But Smoke is a good guy. He was angry because the bomb he created was used to bring down a commercial airline. Now, he is living in Portland Maine and has a girlfriend Lola Bell. The mob has caught up with Smoke in the form of a trio of deadly hitmen. Lola could be used as a pawn- so they think. They are just not aware that she is well versed in the area of martial arts. What ensues is a thrilling semi-comic bloodbath.

SMOKED is all about the characters in the same vein as an Elmore Leonard novel. Sure there is a decent and rollicking plot. The strength is the portrayals of both the bad and the good as real people each with their own set of problems. They all have great depth so that even the most wicked come off as semi-human instead of the usual cartoonish stereotypes. From the reader's standpoint the book is pure fun. The author truly knows how to pace his stories. This is an impressive debut and comes well recommended.

"Smoke" Dugan is nearly 60 years old. He's a retired criminal - a bomber - walks with a limp, and lives in a rundown basement apartment in out-of-the way Portland, Maine. The voluptuous Lola Bell is his girlfriend - a twenty-something stunner with supermodel looks and Special Forces caliber martial arts skills. So I guess this is why they call it "fiction"?

But setting aside some of the base incredulity, Patrick Quinlan spins a fast paced and mostly entertaining novel about the life that Smoke left behind catching up with him. Getting fast out the gate with a memorable scene where a bikini-clad Lola wups up on two good ole boys twice her size, the action never stops as Smoke limps and Lola karate kicks their way through mob hit men and disgruntled pornographers out to seek revenge and $2.5M of dirty cash that Smoke appropriated years before. If not credible, the cast is colorful - including Moss, a gorilla-sized thug who has duct tape, handcuffs, three hundred pounds of muscle, and a walnut-sized brain, at his disposal. In building this passable thriller, Quinlan leaves a few loose ends along the way, rushing to a premature climax that left me only half full. But setting aside a few flaws, "Smoked" is a fun read that will pass time on a long flight or a lazy afternoon.

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