Deadbeat A novel

"My tale is one you won't have heard," says Peyton Collard. And it's true. Usually, characters who murder for money are stock characters in crime fiction, there to get blown away by Bond or Reacher. Here, he's the protagonist, but Hamdy still keeps us wondering. The narrator of this superb, white-knuckle thriller doesn't leave us wondering. He is--self-described--a loser, a screw-up, a drunk, a deadbeat, and a whiner. We meet him just before his murder career is launched, at the memorial service for a young woman he has killed in a car accident. We share his surprise when he's anonymously offered a lot of money to waste a dangerous degenerate. This is where the plot revs up, and where author Hamdy begins planting land mines. Surprise explosions make the pages shake, and they're his, not the reader's, to set off. The author treats us to wry insights into the mind of the protagonist, from the rationalization to the victimization, from self-pity to righteousness. At least, he tells us, "I felt guilty."

Hamdy (The Other Side of Night) kicks off this superlative thriller with drunk, down-at-the-heel divorcé Peyton Collard facing prison after assaulting a police officer and driving under the influence. Already on probation for involuntary manslaughter, Peyton's facing a 10-year prison sentence--so when someone anonymously posts his bail and offers him $100,000 to kill a stranger, he accepts. Peyton's target, nightclub owner Walter Glaze, is an alleged drug dealer suspected of multiple murders. After killing Glaze, Peyton continues carrying out vigilante justice for his mysterious benefactor, motivated by hefty paychecks and the opportunities they offer to build his daughter a better life. As the assignments get riskier, the rewards get higher, but Peyton's killing spree soon attracts the attention of vicious gangland thugs and a dogged detective, sending him on the run as he tries to evade capture and understand who, exactly, is pulling his strings. Peyton's clever, charismatic voice ("I hadn't always been a cantankerous jerk, but life grinds hard on some people, turning their warm welcomes to dusty suspicion") keeps readers rooting for him even as he makes frequent, infuriating missteps, and Hamdy maintains remarkably taut suspense until the unforgettable denouement. Once again, Hamdy has delivered a standout work of smart, tough crime fiction. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (Dec.)