If newly-minted special agent Angus Green is going to make it to a second case, he’s going to need to survive the first one. Angus wants a job with adventure, so after graduating with his master’s degree in accounting he completes the FBI’s academy at Quantico and is assigned to the Miami field office, where the caseload includes smugglers, drug runners, and gangs, but he starts out stuck behind a desk, an accountant with a badge and gun. Eager to raise some extra money for his college student brother, he enters a strip trivia contest at a gay bar in Fort Lauderdale. But when he’s caught with his pants down by a couple of fellow agents, he worries that his career is about to crash. Instead, as the office’s only openly gay agent, he’s recruited to find a missing informant with a reputation as “gay for pay.” It’s his first real case, and it takes him from the glitter of South Beach to the morgue on a desperate chase to catch a gang of criminals with their tentacles in everything from medical fraud to pill mills to jewel theft. As every twist in the case leads to more mayhem, the street quickly teaches him that the only way to face a challenge is to assume that he'll survive this one--that it'll be the next one that will kill him. The BOLO Books Review by Kristopher Neil S. Plakcy's The Next One Will Kill You is best described as exhilarating, escapist entertainment. The novel's exciting and fun nature generates from the fact that it never takes itself too seriously and the fact that Plakcy manages to avoid allowing the players to sink to stereotypical caricatures is a testament to his faith in the original concept. The Next One Will Kill You is an intrigue-based thriller set in Miami Beach featuring an out, gay FBI agent. When Angus Green's colleagues discover him taking part in a strip contest at the local gay bar, Angus is sure that his career is kaput, and yet his straight co-workers are only interested in making him part of the team on this current investigation - after all, he will have access to some of the key players that they would otherwise have no hope of gaining trust from. The case in question involves a missing informant who was scheduled to provide some much needed intel on an active investigation. As Angus becomes more entwined in the workings of the case, he discovers possible ties to a major jewelry heist, terrorist activity, and of course, murder. Neil S. Plakcy works in some interesting research on FBI tactics and procedures into his plot. Readers will learn about legal search methods and interviewing skills such as the elicitation technique used by agents in the field. Even if readers are already familiar with these concepts, they will understand how a rookie agent needs to hone these skills while working his first big case. Meanwhile, Plakcy also gives Angus an interesting personal life. Angus is a stand-up guy trying to keep his younger brother on the right path, navigate the pitfalls of having a somewhat platonic relationship with a gay roommate, and explore his own romantic desires in what little free time a special agent for the FBI is allotted during a sensitive operation. The novel features several action-packed sequences and some laugh-out-loud situations. At any moment, Plakcy could have fallen victim to resorting to stereotypical plotting - who wouldn't expect at least one of the straight agents to have an issue with Angus's sexuality - and yet, at every turn he takes a fresh detour. It makes for a refreshing read. The Next One Will Kill You is the first in a new series, so some groundwork is laid for future installments. Angus' relationships - both romantic and beyond - are just in their formative stages and certainly there are plenty of opportunities for FBI-involved investigations within the Miami Beach location. Hopefully Neil S. Plakcy will keep infusing the thriller genre with fresh and unexpected ideas for several more books - Angus' evolution is going to be fascinating to watch. Harlequin Junkie Review FBI agent Angus Green would love nothing more than to work in the field investigating crimes, instead of sitting behind a desk working as an accountant. Believing he's blown his chance when some fellow agents catch him competing in a strip trivia contest, he can't believe they want to offer him the chance to work with the anti-terrorism task force. Can he help take down the criminals that seem to have their hooks in all sorts of crime, or will the challenge prove too much for him to handle? "What's going on is that you got yourself in the middle of a tip that came in," Vito said, leaning back in his chair so far that I worried the buttons on his white shirt might burst over his stomach. "An interesting one that has come to a dead end," Roly said. "We're hoping you can use your unique talents to give us a jump start." I love a good mystery story, and this first book in Mr. Plakcy's Angus Green series launched a good start. With Angus's lifestyle choice, he's the perf