Body Broker: A Jack Dixon Novel

PI Jack Dixon, the likable narrator of this promising series launch from Ford (the Paladin fantasy trilogy), looks into the disappearance of 18-year-old Gabriel Kennelly, who vanished from Farrington, an elite boarding school in Furnace Bay, Md., where he was a track star. Gabriel’s friends say he was happy, except for one who claims he was a buckling under the pressures at Farrington. Dixon thinks Gabriel’s disappearance may have nothing to do with school pressures, but rather with strange alliances of money, power, and drugs among those who should have been looking out for him, including his school psychologist, who has ties to a drug-dealing Nordic motorcycle cult, and his elusive father, who sends his own bodyguards to thwart the investigation. The story moves along at a good pace with well-defined characters, in particular Jack, who abhors violence, doesn’t wear a gun, and would rather get beat up than shot. That he lives on a houseboat will resonate with fans of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee. Readers will look forward to Jack’s further exploits. [em](Sept.) [/em]