Smart, tough Los Angeles FBI agents Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo meet their match in a diamond smuggler, Steinbach, who seems to have almost superhuman powers. Arrested during a clever sting operation, Steinbach tells the team of agents he will kill them, and sure enough, one by one, they start to die. Worse, Jack can’t begin to pin it on Steinbach, who is, after all, in prison. Soon, however, Steinbach makes a deal with Homeland Security and is freed with total immunity.

Jack is pretty sure that he and Oscar could be next. But, as it turns out, Steinbach is not the only menace. Two of the agents who were killed turn out to be dirty. Jack and Oscar tour the seamy side of L.A. in hopes of finding clues, but they get way more than they bargained for.

Robert Ward is the author of "Virgin Trails: A Secular Pilgrimage," an agnostic's guide to the worship of the Virgin Mary. His writing has appeared in newspapers and journels including the Globe and Mail, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, andQueen's Quarterly. He has lived in Japan, traveled widely in Europe and Asia, and can muddle along in several languages. When he isn't on pilgrimage, he lives quietly in Toronto with his wife, Michiko.

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Ward writes a fast-paced, cogent thriller, a tale of dirty agents and a missing $200,000, the arrest and release of a dangerous diamond smuggler, and the careful plans for vengeance of a deliberative killer. Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo are L.A. FBI agents finally wrapping up a long engagement that will put diamond smuggler Karl Steinback behind bars for a long time, where he belongs.

The ranks of regular FBI agents have been depleted by 9/11 and the creation of the department of Homeland Security, a great bureaucracy that cannibalizes local agencies. When an important bust goes down, Harper and Hidalgo are hampered by numbers, other field agents normally used for backup reassigned to DHS. The two agents go in alone, unwilling to let their suspect continue his mayhem.

Shots fly in a wild confrontation, but Harper and Hidalgo dominate, an angry Karl Steinback hollering that they will be sorry, his reach extends far beyond prison walls. Celebrating later at their favorite pub, Charlie Breen’s Deckhouse, Jack and Oscar are proud of themselves if a bit disturbed by Karl’s threats. Within the next few days, when DHS interferes on Steinback’s behalf and two of their fellow agents die suspiciously, Jack and Oscar begin to wonder if the diamond smuggler has unleashed the hounds of hell on them in his thirst for revenge.

What follows is a cat-and-mouse game, where the agents must determine who is behind the murders - Karl, or the perpetrator of some older, less obvious vendetta. Oscar is skeptical, but Jack’s instincts are on high alert, in spite of his distraction. His teenaged son, Kevin, has been indulging in some risky behavior, and his girlfriend of eight months is tired of worrying about Jack and the rebellious Kevin.

The writing is as edgy and hard-bitten as the streets, the author’s television background evident in a fast-paced plot with crisp dialog, a classic thriller with interesting characters, flawed agents, evil villains, a killer who films his crimes, and the charged post-9/11 atmosphere of law enforcement vs. Homeland Security. There are plenty of surprises; bad decisions come back to haunt Harper years later, menace masquerading as friendship and the temptation of $200,000 that proves too strong for some to resist.

The author throws a lot of mud on the wall and some of it sticks. Whether these two savvy agents can figure out who is behind the killings before it’s their turn is another question. There are a few stretches, but over all this is a well-plotted thriller with enough surprises to keep it interesting. Although Harper is featured more than his partner, this is a joint effort and one worth reading.

Ward, Robert

TOTAL IMMUNITY

A crime kingpin’s long reach presents a unique challenge to a maverick FBI team in Ward’s latest (Four Kinds of Rain, 2006, etc.).

After a yearlong surveillance, Los Angeles agents Oscar Hidalgo and Jack Harper take down cool diamond smuggler Karl Steinbach, known as The Kraut, with an elaborate sting that climaxes in a bowling alley. Now Jackâ€â€?wound up by his deep feelings for new girlfriend Julie, who may be “the one,â€â? and by the widening rebellious streak of his teenage son Kevinâ€â€?can’t shake fears about Steinbach’s reputation for retaliation. When Kevin comes home two hours late one evening, Jack’s worry goes into overdrive, though only the reader knows at this point how well-founded his concerns are. Meanwhile, Jack and Oscar’s superior, William Forrester, seems determined to (falsely) nail them, along with veteran fellow agents Zac Blakely and Ron Hughes, for skimming the proceeds of a recent bank-robbery bust. When Zac, Jack’s mentor, dies in a suspicious accident, Oscar instantly sees his death as Steinbach’s handiwork. He and Jack go on the offensive, though not in time to save Ron from an equally fatal encounter. The avenging pair shake the underworld trees concerning Steinbach and also implement a subtler investigation of Forrester and his possible motives for targeting them. The extra hours put in on these pursuits strain Jack’s relationship with Julie and leave Kevin largely unsupervised. Danger predictably follows.

Loaded with familiar genre elements, but packed with action as well and energetically written.

(Agent: Philip Spitzer/Philip Spitzer Literary

PRAISE FOR FOUR KINDS OF RAIN

"Fiercely funny . . . as sharp and nasty as a paper cut."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

"Four Kinds of Rain is feverish and funny, an end-of-the-dream novel that could only have come from the very talented, slightly twisted mind of Robert Ward."—George Pelecanos