"An exciting thriller"

Octogenarian Cora Mulheisen and others protest an environmental outrage outside a Detroit suburban courthouse when a bomb explodes. Cora is unconscious and taken to the hospital. Her son, Detroit Police department Detective Sergeant Fang Mulheisen retires to care for his mother. Homeland Security Task Force Lieutenant Colonel Vernon Tucker tries to recruit him to join his team looking into the bombing, but Fang says no though once his mom heals he has plans to learn the truth.

In Montana, Joe Service, retired from the mob, plans to lead a simple life with his lover Helen Sedlacek. However, his domestic tranquility is interrupted when he learns that an informer he failed to kill is coming for him and his beloved.

Cora begins to recuperate, but remembers little from that day. Still, Fang realizes she could be a target since she witnessed much of the tragedy. He decides to go after who he believes is his mom's enemy. To keep Helen safe, Joe decides to confront the informer away from her. While Tucker manipulates people including Joe and Fang, they converge on terrorist Martin Parvis Luck, their apparent mutual enemy.

The latest Mulheisen mystery is an action-packed, often humorous antiterrorism tale. The fast-paced story line contains intriguing heroes battling with one another as much as with their common foes. The skirmishes between Fang and Joe are delightful as both needs the other to succeed yet neither can trust a person from the opposite side of the law. Though the villains seem more suited for the Keystone Cops, Jon A. Jackson joyfully jolts his audience with this fine thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 19, 2004

Summary

In No Man's Dog Jon A. Jackson's longtime hero "Fang" Mulheisen is back for a volatile confrontation with his old nemesis, Joe Service. Add to the mix drug dealers, international terrorists, federal agents acting outside the law, and the hellish fury of crime-babe Helen Sedlacek, and you have a Molotov cocktail. The novel opens with Mulheisen's aged mother nearly slain by an incomprehensible bombing at an orderly environmental protest. Mulheisen resigns from the force to nurse her, but as she recovers he turns his implacable attention to the bombers. The Task Force can't decide if it's anti-environmentalists, international terrorists, or a drug cartel's attempt to quiet a witness or spring him-but Mulheisen quickly notices what the Feds haven't: a gun-happy survivalist on the scene. Some dogs prefer to hunt on their own, and in Badger Games readers saw that Joe Service would run the most vicious beast to earth. Now Mulheisen reminds us he's the old dog in this hunt. Will this fight bring Service and Mulheisen together, at risk of losing the prey?