Leonard Ruhl

Bailing Out by Leonard Ruhl is a gritty, high-stakes crime thriller built around a drug cartel in the US. Received an ARC from BookSirens, and I was pretty much hooked from the beginning.

The book kicks off with a violent accident of G, a cartel enforcer, and pretty much maintains the pace throughout. He wanted to leave his blood-soaked past behind, but now being hunted by both the law and the cartel.

The chase was tight and tense all through the book. G is shown as someone with heart, but show more also cold-blooded when needed.

It was fast-paced and "cinematic.” The story is told through multiple perspectives giving you a full psychological feel of the cat-and-mouse game.

l think this was the first book I read in a long time that actually had the action and thrill. The constant fear and sense of danger in characters kept me at the edge of the seat.

A must-read book, if you love cartel fiction. It's violent and heated. Kind of a pulp fiction thriller. A rare thriller that doesn't let you off. show less

5680. Verdict Denied, by Leonard Ruhl (read 5 Mar 2020) This a a work of fiction telling of a judge in Kansas who is conducting a murder trial The account of the lead-up to the trial and its start is of some interest and fast-paced. But as the trial is going on the the judge gets involved and his sister is kidnapped by people involved in the crime related to the trial. The judge kills a lot of people and convinces himself that such was necessary to defend himself and others. The story is show more fast-moving and I tended to lose track of the many bad guys involved. The book starts out well but gets so mired in killings that it is confusing. All works out well in the end, as one knew it would, and the judge knew he could not continue as a judge since he killed so any people even though he felt he had to kill them to save himself and his others. show less