Despite a less than credible plot, Black's third novel (after 2004's Windy City Knights
) to feature Chicago kickboxer Ron Shade, has its charms, not least a street-smart, likable hero. Shade, an ex-cop turned PI, reluctantly takes work from his least favorite kind of client, a lawyer, and from the police lieutenant who helped boot him off the force. Lieutenant Bielmaster wants Shade to keep a paroled ex-con away from Bielmaster's daughter, hinting that Shade might get reinstated in the PD in return. Defense attorney Rick Walters recruits Shade's help on a civil wrongful death suit, an attempt to get a measure of justice for a murdered woman whose husband was acquitted, possibly because of a corrupt judge. In his minimal downtime, Shade takes a crack at the world heavyweight kickboxing championship. He faces pretty fierce competition in the ring, but nothing as lethal as the attempts on his life that result from his involvement in the trial. (Oct.)
