Bridger

In Hunt's cliché-ridden thriller, professional thief Dan Bridger takes the fall for a double murder when a tip from his girlfriend, Maggie Chan, proves to be a fake. Chan identified a $4 million coin collection belonging to Philadelphia judge Joe Hannon as a target, but when Bridger breaks into Hannon's house early one morning, someone wearing a ski mask knocks him out. On regaining consciousness, Bridger searches the house and discovers a man and a woman in a bedroom shot to death. The victims turn out to be Hannon and his mistress. After finding Chan murdered as well, Bridger ends up on the run from the law. The book jumps the shark when Bridger ends up in a relationship with Hannon's widow. A related plot line involving a mob hit on an FBI undercover agent who'd infiltrated an organized crime family is equally predictable. And Hunt's (Before They Make You Run) tendency to write in sentence fragments also doesn't help matters. (Aug.)