Izmir

As Hunt's sixth Jack Novak thriller (after Islamorada) opens, the freelance knight in tarnished armor arrives in Bern, Switzerland, to tie the knot at last with his beloved Melody. Before he or she can say ""I do,"" however, Jack learns that his former DEA partner has been kidnapped by South American drug dealers--which is just the first of many hairpin turns in this high-testosterone yarn. Narrator Jack faces further menaces, of course, including an angry rattler, smarmy smugglers of Greek antiquities and assorted ""hardass muthas,"" but when, as he puts it, ""rage suffuse[s] me,"" they fall by the wayside nearly as quickly as women are wont to fall into his bed. Like the old-time pulp writer he ultimately is, Hunt may not offer art, but he serves up something that can quicken a pulse. (Feb.)