The new Stevens and Windermere novel from Owen Laukkanen, author of the dazzlingly acclaimed The Professionals��one of the best debuts of the year" (Mystery Scene).
Accountant Carter Tomlin has a secret. He�s lost his job, the bills are mounting, and his perfect life is hanging by a thread. Desperate, he robs a bank. Then he robs another.
Reuniting for the first time after their first case, FBI Special Agent Carla Windermere homes in on Tomlin from one direction, while Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens picks up the trail from another.
Because Carter Tomlin likes robbing banks. And it�s not because of the money anymore. Tomlin has guns and a new taste for violence. And he�s not quitting anytime soon.
**Praise for Owen Laukkanen
"Puts readers in mind of what a collaboration between John Sandford and Elmore Leonard would be like...a master storyteller."--Bookreporter.com
"Really terrific."--Lee Child
"Fans of crime thrillers shouldn't miss this one or anything else with Laukkanen's name on the cover."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)**
**
From Booklist
Starred Review After achieving law-enforcement fame in The Professionals (2012), Twin Cities FBI agent Carla Windermere and state BCA agent Kirk Stevens head in separate directions. She�s stalking the adrenaline rush of big cases, and he�s begun a career-sacrificing effort to avoid the �cowboying� in their last adventure. Now, a bank robber�s violent rampage brings them back together. Carter Tomlin, a recently unemployed executive who�s been leveraging debt to live in luxury, impulsively robs a bank. The heist nets little cash but a big payoff to his ego. His victims� fear provides a drug-like high, addictive after his emasculating job loss. Tomlin quickly acquires automatic weapons and a supporting team of thieves and begins leaving bodies in his wake. Windermere is sure Tomlin is the gang�s mastermind but struggles to convince fellow agents that the seemingly wealthy suburbanite is a violent criminal. Stevens, who�s personally acquainted with Tomlin, also doubts Windermere�s theories, but clues are soon difficult to mask as coincidences, and he joins Windermere in the hunt. Laukkanen has clearly avoided the sophomore slump, deftly alternating taut narratives and building toward a grand climax that�s completely organic to the story. Windermere, Stevens, and Tomlin are strikingly realistic characters sharing varying degrees of dissatisfaction with their lives, and readers will identify with their struggles to reconcile their own needs with their responsibilities to others. --Christine Tran
Review
Praise for CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE:
�[Criminal Enterprise is] one hell of a wild ride � full of corkscrews, cutbacks, blind curves, and barrel rolls. The pace is quick, the plot is intricate, and the stakes start out high and increase exponentially over the course of the tale.��Crimespree
�Laukkanen, one of the best thriller writers to emerge in the wake of the Great Recession, has a keen understanding of what readers expect in a crime thriller. His pace is relentless, and he shifts expertly between his characters� perspectives, short chapter by short chapter, as he hurls readers toward an inevitably explosive finale.� ��Richmond Times-Dispatch
�"Criminal Enterprise" showcases Laukkanen's original storytelling. We can't wait to find out which everyman-turned-criminal Carla and Kirk tangle with next.��South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"Fans of crime thrillers shouldn't miss this one or anything else with Laukkanen's name on the cover. The writing is so crisp, the pages almost want to turn themselves. He's a terrific storyteller."�Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Laukkanen as clearly avoided the sophomore slump, deftly alternating taut narratives and building toward a grand climax that's completely organic to the story.� Windermere, Stevens, and Tomlin are strikingly realistic characters sharing varying degrees of dissatisfaction with their lives, and readers will identify with their struggles to reconcile their own needs with their responsibilities to others."�Booklist (starred review)
�Criminal Enterprise is a bloody good thriller� ��Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
�Laukkanen keeps the tension high�this is a suspenseful ride.���Houston Chronicle
**�**Owen Laukkanen: Latest novel isCriminal Enterprise. Laukkanen�s 2012 debut The Professionals was my favorite debut of the year and seems to have set a tone for his series�focusing on the impact of the economic downturn. While that might not seem to be the basis of an exciting thriller, Laukkanen has made it so. His are action-packed stories that also are contemporary cautionary tales. Laukkanen also gives a vivid look at amorality, entitlement and consequences.��Mystery Scene
��If you�ve ever wanted to write a terrific crime novel, Criminal Enterprise could well be the blueprint.� ��New York Journal of Books
�This high-voltage thriller practically deserves a warning label on its cover... the writing is so crisp you can almost hear it crunch between your teeth, and the action builds to a jaws-clenching finish.��� Read Me Deadly
�The Professionals was highly and rightly praised...Criminal Enterprise is even better. Laukkanen has a plot line built on the death of the American Dream.� �� The Globe and Mail