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	Reading and writing have been a passion for Laurie Wood since winning city-wide writing contests in Grade Five and Eight. Her favourite genres are romantic suspense, mysteries, and a good spine-tingling thriller. She loves to judge contests as well as enter them, and is active in several RWA Chapters. Although published in non-fiction articles, she's yet to grab the golden ring of being published in novel-length fiction. Until then, she writes at home and takes care of her two special needs children, an alpha male husband who inspires her heroes, and a golden retriever who thinks she's just a kid in fur.

FREEZEOUT: A JAKE MORGAN MYSTERY
By Rick Gadziola
ECW Press May 2005
ISBN: 1-55022-689-4
Price: $15.95 US, $19.95 Cdn
Pages: 277

Fans of "Jake Morgan" won't be disappointed by this follow-up to RAW DEAL. He's back as cool as ever - drawing fire from bad guys who're bad'er then the Mafia he works for and slicker than the rush from Texas Hold'em.

Jake is an anti-hero of the first order, an ex-cop who's turned to gambling as his passion and works as a casino dealer and "jack of all trades" for Julius Contini, owner of the Oasis hotel in Las Vegas. Jake's been known to walk on both sides of the line and Contini needs him for a delicate job - bodyguarding his great-niece for a week while she's in town. No touchy-feely stuff here, just straight "keep her out of trouble" and get paid triple time.

The trouble is trouble follows this mini-Diva the way gaining 5 lbs follows a turkey dinner. Mysterious strangers start jumping out of bushes to ambush them, bullets start flying, and Jake starts wondering where the bodies are buried. Aside from great-niece Angelica's obvious crush on him, and her penchant for all-night bar crawling, she has another great-aunt who's lost a husband about fifty years ago. Jake figures he'll start back there and sticks Angelica in the pool while he talks to great-aunt Olivia.

Did her husband rip-off the Chicago mob and disappear with a fortune? Does she have it somewhere on her estate? Does he care? Only enough to keep him alive, especially after the men in black suits shoot up his apartment and kill Olivia's soldier Vincent who was protecting him. Jake takes offense to that, especially when the cops think he had something to do with it.

It's too bad Jake didn't stay a cop, because he would've been a good one. It's that gambling thing that got in the way. But his showdown with the two enforcers will give hard-boiled fans chills, and fans of Die Hard I won't be disappointed either.

Jake Morgan will pick up many more fans with this gem of a noir, hint of the "old days" story. The take on all-comers, last man left standing, kind of guy. If I were casting this character for a movie, I'd pick someone like Eric Bana. Class, sass, with an edge to cut to the bone.

You can find FREEZEOUT: A Jake Morgan Mystery, in your independent bookstores, or order online through Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

Reviewed by: Laurie J. Wood

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