In the first three pages of Paul Levine’s Illegal, disgraced trial lawyer Jimmy Payne bribes a judge, (literally) loses his shirt, and ends up with a gun in his face... and the pace of the book just picks up from there.

Still reeling from a family tragedy that ended his marriage, Payne is obsessed with happier times. When the last dregs of his life finally fall apart, his ex-wife convinces him to help Agustino Perez, a 12-year-old illegal immigrant looking for his mother, who was separated from him during their night crossing from Mexico. The search for Agustino’s mother takes Payne on a breakneck tour of the dark, hazardous world of California's migrant workers—a journey that neither he nor the boy seem likely to survive.

The boatloads of hardcore violence in Illegal might repel some readers, but pulp fiction fans will find a lot to enjoy about Payne, a wisecracking loser with a soft heart and a genius for getting into trouble, the bright, fearless Agustino, and Payne’s ex-wife, a consumer frauds detective with the L.A.P.D. Levine is already at work on the second novel in this series, and—while it might take a few months for our stomachs to settle from some of the ickier scenes in Illegal—we’re definitely looking forward to our next outing with these characters.

Labels: Book Reviews, Suspense