Jack Barrett had been a scout for the New York Yankees for many years until someone set him up for instant termination—by blaming him for revealing inside information. Still angry and defensive, he found after many successful years he was now forced to live with his daughter and bag groceries to scrape by. Bitter beyond words, he had even stayed away from going to ballgames until his daughter begged him to go with her and her new boyfriend. Once there he was forced to admit to himself that he missed the game—“like you missed the love of your life.” (p. 4)

And that’s when he saw him. Jack had scouted many potential stars; this player showed it even as he ran out with the rest of the team—the aura of talent, exceptional talent. And when the ball player made a number of outstanding plays during the game, Jack immediately realized that Mikey Clemant could very well be the man who would get him back into his job!

Johnny Bondano was paid a million dollars a year; his job was to act as a hit man for the local mob. And he really didn’t mind using a drowning-death torture technique to gain any information he needed. Interestingly, though, Johnny had a streak of decency—he only killed men who deserved to die. So when his boss offered him a million dollars for one murder—the man who had killed his grandson in a hit-and-run, he began his own investigation about the man and found that he was now playing ball on a small obscure team under the name Mikey Clemant. The problem was—he didn’t think he was the man who had killed the boy.

The cat-and-mouse chase between Jack Barrett as he tries to meet and gain Mikey’s trust is often trumped by the horror of Johnny’s torturous actions to others in order to find him. What it results in is an action-packed page-turner for readers!

Jack’s personal goals are soon set aside as his personal feelings and concern for Mikey grows, even while he realizes that Mikey could very well be one of the greatest baseball players ever. Personal hint to the story: think anagram...

Johnny’s streak of decency is lost as he falls in love with another man’s wife, and wants her more than he wants to retain his own personal integrity. Mikey Clemant stands in the way!

This book is simply a mindblower...it successfully merges a fairly in-depth look at baseball, while the thriller keeps us moving forward to a surprise ending that will leave you stunned! Of the new books out, I’m naming Forced Out! a must read!

G. A. Bixler

For Amazon vine