Max Trueblood and the Jersey Desperado

An old hit man befriends a bumbling would-be gangster As a hit man, Max Trueblood never left the house without a gun. Now that he’s retired, he doesn’t always pack heat. This is a mistake. When he returns home one day from the grocery store, he finds his apartment broken into and two thugs waiting with a summons from their boss. Trueblood scares them off, but he knows it isn’t over. He is officially unretired. When mob boss Raphael Tadzio decides he wants Max dead, he taps the up-and-coming hoodlum Jerry Donahue for the job. Despite his infinite self-confidence, Jerry has never killed before. He falters when it’s time to pull the trigger, and he and Max become unlikely friends. When the city’s best hit man joins forces with its worst, organized crime will never be the same. “[A] smartly written good-buddies adventure.” —The Plain Dealer “An exciting and unusual story.” —Publishers Weekly “A heart stopper.” —The New York Times on “Role Model”