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Summary
Summary
Award-winning author Brad Parks delivers a tense novel of thrills, twists, and deceit that grabs you and won't let go until the final, satisfying page.
Tommy Jump is an out-of-work stage actor approached by the FBI with the role of a lifetime: Go undercover at a federal prison, impersonate a convicted felon, and befriend a fellow inmate, a disgraced banker named Mitchell Dupree, who knows the location of documents that can be used to bring down a ruthless drug cartel . . . if only he'd tell the FBI where they are.
The women in Tommy's life, his fiancée and mother, tell him he's crazy to even consider taking the part. The cartel has quickly risen to become the largest supplier of crystal meth in America. And it hasn't done it by playing nice. Still, Tommy's acting career has stalled, and the FBI is offering a minimum of $150,000 for a six-month gig--whether he gets the documents or not.
Using a false name and backstory, Tommy enters the low-security prison and begins the process of befriending Dupree. But Tommy soon realizes he's underestimated the enormity of his task and the terrifying reach of the cartel. The FBI aren't the only ones looking for the documents, and if Tommy doesn't play his role to perfection, it just may be his last act.
Author Notes
International bestselling author Brad Parks is the only writer to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of crime fiction's most prestigious prizes. A former reporter with The Washington Post and The Star-Ledger (Newark), he lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Inspired by the real-life case of Wachovia Bank, which failed to apply proper controls on Mexican money exchanges, this crime novel from Shamus Award winner Parks (Closer Than You Know) offers an intriguing setup but few thrills. A childhood friend approaches struggling stage actor Tommy Jump and tells him that the FBI will pay him handsomely to go to prison and befriend Mitchell Dupree, a banker who worked for the New Colima cartel. If the feds can get documents that Mitch has hidden, they can destroy the syndicate. When Tommy learns that his fiancée is pregnant, he agrees to take the job and the money. Under a false name, he pleads guilty to a nonexistent bank robbery and gets sentenced to the Federal Corrections Institute in Morgantown, W.Va. The action slows as Tommy leads a boring life in the minimum-security prison, where he's never in peril and threats to others feel minimal. He makes little progress in getting close to Mitchell. Much of the plot depends on coincidence or surprise revelations. Hopefully, Parks will return to form next time. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The FBI hires an aging child actor to go undercover in a West Virginia prison to extract vital information from a convicted money launderer who'd rather keep his head down.Tommy Jump's best days onstage are probably behind him. At 27, he's too old to play children or even teenagers. But as his old schoolmate Danny Ruiz, who's now with the FBI, assures him, he's not too old to earn a fat paycheck by playing the role of Peter Lenfest Goodrich, the high school history teacher who reacted to a bank's plans to foreclose on his mortgage by robbing the bank and then getting caught. Danny is convinced that Tommy's just the person to worm himself into the confidence of Mitchell Dupree, whose job as an executive in the Latin American division at Union South Bank was seriously compromised when he laundered millions for El Vio, the fearsome, half-blind boss of the New Colima Cartel. Mitch has a wife and two children just beginning the long wait outside for him to serve his time, and although he's arranged for the documentary evidence he assembled against El Vio to be turned over to the authorities if anything untoward happens to him, he's not about to upset the apple cart by talking out of turnunless of course it's to innocuous Pete Goodrich, who'll be serving time alongside him in the minimum security Morgantown Prison as soon as he pleads guilty and bids a tearful farewell to Amanda Porter, Tommy's actual fiancee, who's just found out she's pregnant. After all, Tommy's been acting professionally for most of his life, and the FBI will spring him on a moment's notice if he gets into trouble, so what could possibly go wrong? Fans of Parks' well-oiled thrillers (Closer than You Know, 2018, etc.) won't even bother to ask; they'll be too busy licking their chops anticipating the twists that are bound to come.The setup is so patient and the logistics so matter-of-fact that even the savviest readers will be caught in the story's expertly laid traps before they know what's happening. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A Brad Parks novel offers two pleasures. One is watching a stunning talent at work. The other operating almost apart from the first is getting wrapped in the coils of a fiendishly clever thriller. Parks here works his magic on behalf of Tommy Jump, a pint-size stage actor who lives in the half-world of the half-successful and is mighty tired of it. He's aging. His gorgeous fiancée is pregnant. Like a deus ex machina, a friend from Tommy's past appears. Flashing FBI credentials, he offers Tommy an acting job (for a fat fee) that will require Tommy to confess to a nonexistent bank robbery and spend time in prison, there befriending a banker who holds secrets about a vicious Mexican drug cartel. Tommy and the banker become friends, the cartel catches on, and what follows is a dazzling game of who-is-what. The prose is hypnotic, the emotions genuine, the characters warm and alive. And the revelations as the masks drop are for Parks to reveal. Readers are not likely to scorn Tommy because he got fooled. So will they.--Don Crinklaw Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Multi-award-winning Parks (Closer Than You Know) returns with a stand-alone about Tommy Jump, once a child star, now an over-the-hill musical theater actor at 27. He's contemplating the end of his career when he's offered the role of a lifetime. A childhood friend, now an FBI agent, wants him to impersonate a convict in a minimum-security prison and to buddy up to a man responsible for laundering money for a Latin American drug cartel, with the hope he'll reveal the location of incriminating documents detailing the cartel leader's activities. Tommy, with an artist girlfriend and a baby on the way, agrees, unaware that the cartel has their own men inside. Once Tommy is behind bars under an assumed name, he's on his own, and must navigate the prison system using the charm and acting abilities that once made him the toast of Broadway. VERDICT This novel packs on the suspenseful surprises and plot reversals that made Parks a mainstay on the best-seller lists, but it's not just gritty and dark. With a lighter approach, Parks focuses on enduring characters and sharp wordplay, perfect for those who like their thrillers witty rather than bloody. Even if they aren't fans of Broadway musicals, readers will want to seek out this one. [See Prepub Alert, 9/17/18.]-Gregg Winsor, Johnson Cty. Lib., Overland Park, KS © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter 1 They confronted him shortly after dark, maybe thirty feet from the safety of his car. Kris Langetieg-husband, father, affable redhead-had just emerged from a school-board meeting. He was walking head down alongside the lightly trafficked side street where he had parked, eager to get home to his family, distracted enough that he didn't notice the two men until they were already bracketing him on the narrow sidewalk. One in front, one behind. Langetieg recognized them immediately. The guys from the cartel. His loafers skidded on a fine layer of West Virginia grit as he came to a halt. A thin summer sweat covered his upper lip. "Hello again," one of them said. The one in front. The one with the gun. "What do you want?" Langetieg asked, sweat now popping on his brow. "I already told you no." "Exactly," the other one said. The one behind. The one closing fast. Langetieg braced himself. He was a big man. Big and soft. Panic seized him. A man in front. A man behind. A fence to his right. A truck to his left. All the cardinal points blocked, and his car might as well have been in Ohio. Still, if he could get his legs under him, if he could get his arms up, if he could get some breath in his lungs . . . Then the current entered him: twelve hundred volts of brain-jarring juice, delivered through the wispy tendrils of a police-grade Taser. Langetieg dropped to the ground, his muscles locked in contraction. The doors of a nearby panel van opened, and two more men emerged. Both were Mexican and built like wrestlers, low to the ground and practical. They picked up Langetieg's helpless bulk and dumped it in the back of the van. As the van got under way, the wrestlers blindfolded him, bound his wrists and ankles, and stuffed his mouth with a dish towel, securing it in place with another binding. Each task was accomplished with the ruthless efficiency of men who had done this before. Langetieg's only sustaining hope was that someone saw what had happened; someone who might even recognize that an assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia was being taken against his will. He strained to listen for the blare of sirens, the thump of helicopter rotors, some reassuring sound to tell him his captors hadn't gotten away clean. But it was a hot summer evening, the kind of night when folks in Martinsburg, West Virginia, were still inside, savoring their air-conditioning. So there was nothing. Just the hum of tires on asphalt, the whoosh of air around molded steel, the churn of pistons taking him farther from any chance of rescue. For twenty-five minutes, they drove. The ropes bit his skin. The blindfold pressed his eyes. A small corner of the dish towel worked its way farther back in his throat, nauseating him. He willed himself not to puke. He already couldn't breathe through his mouth; if the vomit plugged his nose, he'd suffocate. Lying on the floor of the van, he felt every bounce, jolt, and jerk of the vehicle's suspension. He could guess where they were traveling, albeit only in vague terms: first city streets, then highway, then country roads. Soon the ride got rougher. The relative hush of the asphalt was replaced by the cacophony of gravel, of tires crunching on small stones, spinning them up to ping off the underside of the vehicle. Next came dirt, which was bumpier than gravel or asphalt, but quieter. The loudest sound was the occasional brushing of weeds against the chassis. Finally, they stopped. When the doors swung open, Langetieg smelled pine. The wrestlers grabbed him again. No longer paralyzed, Langetieg bucked and thrashed, howling into his muzzle like the wounded animal he was. It didn't accomplish much. "You want to get tased again, homie?" one of the men asked in Spanish-accented English. Langetieg sagged. They carried him twenty more feet, then up a small set of steps. He was inside now. The pine scent vanished. Mildew and black mold replaced it. He was untied one limb at a time, then just as quickly retied, this time to a chair. Only then did they remove the blindfold. The lead cartel guy stood in front of him, holding a knife. The gag came off next. "Wait, wait," Langetieg said the moment his mouth was free. "I've changed my mind. I'll do whatever you want. I'll do-" "Sorry," the man said. "Too late." Excerpted from The Last ACT: A Novel by Brad Parks All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
