A bracing and ingeniously cast L.A. crime novel from Edgar Award–winner Thomas Perry An aging but formidable strip club owner, Claudiu “Manco” Kapak, is robbed by a masked gunman as he places his cash receipts in a bank’s night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends out half a dozen security men to find the witless culprit. Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he’d targeted someone else. Meanwhile, the real burglar, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend Carrie seem to believe they’ve found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak. Lieutenant Nick Slosser, the police detective in charge of the puzzling and increasingly violent case, has his own troubles, including worries about how he’s going to afford to send the oldest child of each of his two bigamous marriages to college without making their mothers suspicious. As this strange series of events explodes into a triple killing, Carver finds himself in the middle of a brewing gang war over Kapak’s little empire, while Falkins and Carrie journey into territory more dangerous than they could have ever imagined. Many critics commented that the plethora of characters and subplots might have undermined Strip 's power, but they all agreed that Perry's talent in weaving together seemingly loose strands makes the book an unqualified success. The intriguing, action-oriented characters--each with his or her own agenda--captivated reviewers, some of whom ended up rooting for even the bad guys. "The wonderful characters keep on coming," noted the New York Times Book Review . Although they start off as "familiar types ... once Perry lets them loose, they refuse to go back in the box." The action is packed, and the denouement is a small masterpiece. What more could readers want? Praise for Thomas Perry and Strip: "Perry is the master, and Strip is a slice of pure crime nirvana. You will not want to put it down. You will not want it to end. You will be very, very entertained."--Josh Bazell, author of Beat the Reaper "Nobody writes thrillers like Thomas Perry . . . His books are unpredictable, action-packed, and fueled by a cynical wit and observant eye for detail."? San Francisco Chronicle "Perry is a master of suspense."-- Associated Press