A DIFFERENT LIE

Two dangerous assassins tangle with deadly results in the latest book by screenwriter, novelist, and producer Haas.

Columbus is happy. He’s working with his wife, the sexy Italian Risina, and they’re the parents of an adorable little boy, Pooley. But Columbus and his family aren’t the people next door: he’s a world-class assassin and Risina is his fence, the person who does the preliminary research on the mark. Neither Columbus nor Risina suffers any second thoughts about the brutal and bloody business in which they’re engaged. To them, it’s simply a job. But the shadowy Columbus, who, after years as a contract killer, now works for a secretive government agency, has been given an assignment that could prove more dangerous than any previous target. Columbus has been told to hit a man named Castillo, a young Spanish killer whose star has long been on the rise. He starts by seeking out Castillo’s fence, Aiza, but things soon start going awry. A man used to finding few obstacles in his way, Columbus takes up with another hit man, Christopher Ochoa, and before he realizes it, he’s being hunted by the man who's supposed to be his prey. With his screenwriting background, Haas builds characters who are complicated, memorable, and sharply drawn. His spare, lean prose wastes no words. Unlike writers who feel they have to fill in all the blanks, Haas trusts his readers to be smart enough to flesh out the characters and picture them in their minds’ eyes. In the process, Haas develops a powerful and compelling voice and spends his scant 200 pages building suspense, creating atmosphere, and telling a compelling yarn. Columbus isn’t in the most savory profession, but readers will root for the hit man all the same.

An unflinching little gem of a story: violent, dark, and unrelentingly entertaining.