Double Barrel Bluff by Lou Berney

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Former New Orleans mob wheelman for the Albanian mob, Shake Bouchon, is enjoying a quiet life in Indiana with his wife, Gina. But his past catches up with him when a large muscle guy from his past, Dikran Ghazarian, needs Shake's help finding his Pakha (Armenian Mob Boss), Lexy Ilandryan, who has gone missing in Cambodia. Once in Cambodia, they discover that Lexy has been kidnapped by a pair of criminals-for-hire who have no idea who she is. The novel is at times somewhat of a slapstick rollercoaster ride, which oddly enough worked pretty well. As always Berney's writing perfectly balances the murderous transactional nature of the underworld with the human internal conflict and emotion which resides in these (often) evil men. 4/5

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