A Mexican Cartel leader vows to kill the only man to every arrest him, along with his entire family. When NY detective Michael Bennett arrested Mexican drug lord Manuel Perrine, he was justifiably proud. No one had ever been able to touch him until then and it seemed Perrine would spend his life in jail. Instead, he escaped jail and vowed to kill Bennett, sending the officer and his ten adopted kids into witness relocation on a secluded farm in Northern California. Then Perrine began an ambitious round of retribution, targeting organized crime rivals, witnesses to his crimes and anyone else he thought deserved to die. And even though Bennett had retired, he was asked to help the FBI and lead the manhunt.
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Perrine's crimes escalated, including a high-profile murder of a rap star and his pop singer girlfriend. The crimes were bloody and on at least a couple of occasions included a gas that painfully killed anyone exposed to it. Some of the bloodiest crimes are being committed by Vida, Manuel Perrine's daughter. She was responsible for a shootout that ended up with the deaths of four L.A. sheriffs and a number of members of a Vietnamese street gang.
While Bennett searches for Perrine, he doesn't know that his family has been targeted. Perrine has put a hefty bounty out to find their location and when a neighboring farmer identifies them, Perrine sends Vida and a crew of killers to wipe out Bennett's family. Since Perrine's killers had been releasing videos of their crimes, when Bennett is sent a video of someone kicking in the front door to his house, he assumes his kids have been kidnapped by the cartel.
Bennett and his task force track Perrine to Mexico, where he's holed up at a secluded estate throwing a party for corrupt politicians and his most effective killers. Bennett leads a special forces team to attack the estate and bring him down. Perrine is captured alive, but is later killed by Mexican soldiers who claim he was trying to escape. Bennett gets a call from his nanny, Mary Catherine, who tells him the kids are safe and staying in an underground bunker owned by a local pot grower. Vida and her fellow killers track the family and attack the bunker. Mary Catherine kills Vida with a shotgun after she kills the grower. Now that the threat is gone, Bennett tells his kids they can return to the big city life back on the East Coast.
Best part of story, including ending:
While I really enjoyed the individual characters, the "cartel is out to get my family" storyline was predictable and something I had read a hundred times before.
Best scene in story:
The scene in which the pot grower takes on the cartel killers was suspenseful and unexpectedly funny at times. He was a great addition to the book, even though he didn't last long.
Opinion about the main character:
While Michael Bennett is a very effective cop, what makes him interesting is the love and connection he has with his kids. He's not resentful of the time they require and when given a choice, he has no problem picking family over career.
