Synopses & Reviews
After retaliating against a drug lord, savvy, street-tough Val Duran flees to Hollywood. Meanwhile, an L.A. playboy beds a gorgeous redhead and wakes up with a psychopath trying to kill him. Neither Val nor Kilo know it yet, but they are on a collision course with a sexy marine biologist and one lethally dysfunctional family in this "dark, comic tour de force" (James Ellroy).
Review
"While nowhere near as vividly written as The Horse Latitudes, Ferrigno's first novel, Heart Breaker, his fourth, holds together better as story. Val Duran, a one-time undercover associate of the DEA in South Florida, runs afoul of Junior, the last of the cracker drug lords, and is forced to resettle in Southern California. There he hooks up with a leggy marine biologist named Kyle, which only complicates matters when Junior makes his inevitable visit. Kyle has her own problems, which revolve around a family rich in money and dysfunction, and they provide spice for the resulting violent stew. Reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's Florida novels in style and pace, this is highly recommended for those who relish literate crime fiction." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)