Today’s feature of Mystery Monday takes us to New York with the book The Eskimo Hunts in New York by author Stefan Kanfer.

Synopsis:

Jordan Gulok is an Inuit, an Eskimo in common parlance, and a former Navy SEAL. In his freelance capacity he can do things—like tracking and on occasion killing malefactors—that are beyond the authority of the uniformed services. Jordan has an expense account and liberty to travel throughout the U.S. In turn, the U.S. government has plausible deniability should he ever get caught stretching or violating the law.

In The Eskimo Hunts in New York, Jordan’s assignment involves stopping a lethal international group who’s manufacturing illegal and sometimes toxic pharmaceuticals and selling them to victims in Africa, Asia, Europe and America. In one of the worst blizzards in the City’s history, subways, buses and taxis become useless. Even fire trucks and police cars are rendered immobile. But for Jordan cold weather is only a minor obstacle; after all, he grew up hunting polar bear and reindeer on ice and snow.

His targets are managing a multi-billion dollar business that has killed thousands, and they soon become aware of him as their Enemy Number One. The idea of a lone man bringing down their organization is unthinkable. In previous cases, Jordan always acted alone, but as the cartel closes in on him, he turns to Rose Ho, a possible love interest and operative in a regional office of the Department of the Navy.

Rose has great connections—for example, her wealthy father is the unofficial mayor of Chinatown—but are all her connections among the good guys? Can she provide the help he needs, or is she trouble in a green silk skirt?

Review:

I love a good mystery/suspense/thriller novel and this one definitely filled the bill.  It was intense, involved the government and the Russian mafia and one man who thought he could do it all…and pretty much did!  I wondered at different times about several of the characters and their true role in this novel.  Were they who they said they were?  Could they be trusted?  Sometimes the answer was yes and sometimes it was a resounding NO!  Sometimes I wonder if what we read could really happen….sure it is fiction, but could some of it really happen?  I think it probably happens more than we think.

I liked the flashbacks to his life growing up and how Eskimos lived and what he was taught as a child.  I think that contributed to the character’s strengths and maybe some weaknesses.  The interaction with Rose was interesting and I wondered how that relationship would work out.  Lots of great twists and turns in the plot, it will keep you guessing!

We give it 4 paws.

About the Author:

Stefan Kanfer is the author of fifteen books, including the bestselling biographies of show business icons: GROUCHO; BALL OF FIRE (Lucille Ball); SOMEBODY (Marlon Brando); and TOUGH WITHOUT A GUN (Humphrey Bogart). He has also written many social histories, among them THE LAST EMPIRE, about the De Beers diamond company, and STARDUST LOST, an account of the rise and fall of the Yiddish Theater in New York.

Kanfer also wrote two novels about World War II and served as the only journalist on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. He was the first by-lined cinema critic for Time magazine, where he worked as writer and editor for more than two decades. He has been given many writing awards and was named a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library. He lives in New York where he serves as a columnist for the City Journal of the Manhattan Institute.

A copy of this book was given to me for an honest review.