Smoker

Smoker by Rucka, Greg. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780553107166.

Greg Rucka has won national acclaim for his two gripping thrillers, Finder and Keeper, which have been hailed as "impressive" (People), "remarkable" (The Orlando Sentinel), and "full of surprises" (The Houston Chronicle). Now, in Ruckas most explosive novel to date, professional bodyguard Atticus Kodiak returns to confront an enemy without conscience or mercy--a master of manipulation, a pure connoisseur of killing. For a professional bodyguard, theres nothing worse than being tagged as a man who attracts danger. But after his last job, thats just what theyre saying about Atticus Kodiak. In fact, theres only one person in the business willing to touch him with a ten-foot pole. An easy job, according to Elliot Trent, head of New Yorks biggest security firm: baby-sit a pampered playboy hiding from the angry brothers of an ex-playmate. Its a job Kodiak finds himself forced to accept, a decision that draws him into a multimillion-dollar game of cat and mouse. The mouse: Jeremiah Pugh, a material witness whose testimony can knock the legs out from beneath Americas mighty tobacco industry. Racked with guilt, Pugh may be his own worst enemy. The cat: known only as John Doe, one of the Ten, designated by international law enforcement as one of the ten most dangerous contract killers in the world. A ghost, unknown and unidentified, who changes with the wind and adapts to any situation. Drawn into the field of fire by Elliot Trent, Atticus finds himself exactly where he doesnt want to be--between the killer and the target. For Atticus and the assassin are bound by a common thread: their obsession to get the job done. Its an obsession that will connect the assassin and the protector in the most intimate of relationships, anticipating each others moves, exploiting each others weaknesses, baring each others secrets, and raising the stakes in a game where the first player to flinch...dies. In Smoker, Atticus Kodiak meets his match in a thriller of unrelenting suspense guaranteed to suck you in, blow you away, and leave you breathless--a novel that confirms Greg Ruckas place among todays top suspense writers.