Doing Hard Time

Edgar-winner Woods’s smooth 27th Stone Barrington novel (after Unintended Consequences) takes the New York City attorney to Los Angeles, where Stone’s son, Peter; Peter’s girlfriend, Hattie Patrick; and friend Dino Bacchetti’s son, Benito, are headed to begin work on their first film for Centurion Studios after graduating from the Yale School of Drama. Two assassins, dispatched by Yuri Majorov, a powerful Russian, are tailing the young people on their drive west, but fugitive and ex-CIA employee Teddy Fay, who’s lying low as a gas station attendant in a small New Mexico town, ensures the thugs do no harm. Stone and Fay, who crossed paths once before, form an unlikely alliance as Majorov continues to send operatives to find and eliminate both Fay and the Barringtons for interfering with his various plans. Stone—wealthy, handsome, and suave—displays a father’s ruthless streak to protect Peter, while Fay brings a welcome gritty edge to his crowd-pleasing series. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.)