Endangered Species

A rash of cases and a request for help from a convict he once put away complicate life for Latino Denver cop Gabe Wager, seen before in Ground Money , in the ninth entry in this well-received series. After serving his time, a burglar called Stovepipe asks Gabe to co-sign the mortgage on a house outside the city he wants to buy for his mom. While Gabe wonders what will happen to his money if Stovepipe strays from the straight and narrow, two cops are gunned down outside a bar and a teenage gang member is killed in an escalating drug war. But Wager's highest priority is identifying the young woman whose charred remains were found in a burned-down house rented by a man who has since vanished. Wager follows a trail of aliases and cash transactions to environmental terrorist Libeus King, now on the run with several zealous compatriots who are in possession of explosives and targeting a government facility storing plutonium. Burns often relies on coincidence to connect the multiple strands of plot, and the kinetic activity allows little room for more than rudimentary characterization; nevertheless, the tale sustains considerable volatile tension that will likely satisfy action fans. (Apr.)