THE DEATH AND LIFE OF BOBBY Z
by Don Winslow
A deal that a lifer cuts to impersonate a legendary drug dealer as his ticket out of prison turns him into a clay pigeon for the dealer's connections, the DEA, the Hell's Angels, and assorted freelancers. Robert James Zacharias, a.k.a. Bobby Z, surfer and dealer, hasn't been seen for years. When Don Huertero, the premier druglord in northern Mexico, wants to exchange captured DEA agent Arthur Moreno for his old associate, Moreno's friend and colleague Tad Gruzsa, chagrined that Bobby Z has died in a Thai prison, is also relieved that he's got access to a ringer for the late dealer, a three-time loser named Tim Kearney. Staring at imminent in-house vengeance for Stinkdog, the Hell's Angel he's just killed, Tim agrees to stand in for Bobby Z. You might expect Winslow (While Drowning in the Desert, 1996, etc.) to treat the masquerade as a war of nerves—can this fool really outwit Huertero and his accomplices?—but the news that Huertero wants Bobby back only so that he can execute him for hijacking $3 million is the first hint that he's got something much broader in mind: Tim's problem isn't sustaining the masquerade, but dodging bullets after he gets wind of the danger and hightails it into the desert. The minders who let him get away before Huertero could kill him are determined to hunt him down; so is Stinkdog's brother Boom-Boom; so is the brother of a DEA agent killed during the exchange of Tim for Moreno. In order to escape with his life and Bobby's trophy mistress, Tim will have to bluff Bobby's old partner into turning over the $3 mil, persuade Don Huertero to let bygones be bygones, and somehow throw the other pursuers off his trail. . . . Fast and funny—natural fodder for a summer movie—even if Tim's beautifully choreographed escapes involve miracles of good luck and repetition. (First printing of 100,000; film rights to Warner Brothers; author tour; radio satellite tour)