Whiplash river

Like Carl Hiaasen, Berney delights in the cartoonish.

Like Elmore Leonard, he can drive a plot.

What sets him apart is how well he evokes love, making the romance.

as compelling as the mystery.

-Boston Globe Lou Berney immediately earned a seat of honor at the mystery masters' table with his crackling caper novel, Gutshot Straight-a lightning-fast, fiendishly clever suspenser that screamed for a sequel.

And here it is.

Former professional wheel man Charles Shake Bouchon is back, living in the Caribbean paradise of Belize with his lawless past far behind him-until a gunshot tears through his beachside restaurant and he's on the run again.

A twisting tale filled with lawmen, con men, and hit men; a beautiful but deadly FBI agent; and a murderous thug named Baby Jesus, Whiplash River recalls the best of the off-the-wall crime fiction impresarios-Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, James W.

Hall, Robert Ferrigno, Tim Dorsey-while establishing its own unique orbit in the noir universe.