STOPPING POWER
by Eric Red
A single mother leads a high-speed chase in order to save her teen daughter in this thriller.
California real estate agent Stephanie Power is making time for her daughter. While her ex-husband drags out an ugly custody dispute, Stephanie takes 16-year-old Libby on a Texas road trip in their brand-new RV. Unfortunately, trouble lurks, as Libby and the RV vanish at a gas station. The kidnapper calls Stephanie with a bizarre order—drive a BMW north with the gas pedal floored. The caller, German Ilsa Bakke, is hot off an armored-car heist. Though she and her crew separated, Ilsa has the loot and wants Stephanie to distract the cops pursuing the getaway car. She tells Stephanie: “If you stop for any reason, kid dies. If you crash, kid dies. If the cops catch you, kid dies. If you make it for one hour you will see your kid again. Clear?” The police are no help, convinced that the woman behind the BMW’s wheel is the robber. But Stephanie’s boyfriend, Dan Crockett, does what he can as he watches TV news coverage of the chase. Things get even more complicated when members of the still-at-large heist crew join the pursuit to get their hands on the stolen goods. Red’s kinetic story hits the ground running, opening with the mother and daughter on the road and accelerating quickly with Libby in peril. Copious flashbacks follow, including scenes of Stephanie’s failed marriage and the robbers plotting the heist, but these brief subplots hardly affect the narrative momentum. Red, who’s written or co-written such classic horror films as The Hitcher and Near Dark, specializes in scene-stealing baddies. Ilsa is no exception; just when she seems sympathetic, her sadistic, possibly psychotic side reveals itself. Stephanie is equally indelible, utilizing skills she’s picked up from her Hollywood stuntman father. While the story offers few surprises, readers will bask in the taut action scenes and blistering final act. There’s dark humor as well, such as two wounded guys from the heist strolling into a CVS for painkillers.
A first-rate cast drives this brisk, exhilarating action tale.