Black Wolf

The Red Queen project is designed to train special ‘Queens’ with the aim of taking on the worst villains and psychopaths the world has to offer: serial killers who have evaded capture; the nastiest sort of conscience-free reapers to slide in and out of the shadows, exacting their trade on lesser souls. The best of the best of the project’s Queens is Antonia Scott, whose brilliant mind often throws her into addiction and melt-down. Inspector Jon Guiterrez is her sidekick, protector and handler of the drugs that keep her brain and body on track. His is no easy task as Antonia just simply doesn’t think like other people.

Their task in Black Wolf is to find and protect the pregnant wife of a murdered Russian mafioso who ran drugs and human cargo into Southern Spain’s Costa del Sol. Being at the top of the mafia is a precarious business, and staying there is even more dangerous, but it’s hard to imagine that Lola Moreno, Yuri Voronin‘s wife, is any kind of a threat to the mob.  Yet Antonia and Jon are tasked with finding and keeping her safe from those who wish her harm. This is everyone, in Jon’s eyes, though they have to work with the local police, and their own handler isn’t giving away much in terms of useful information. Worst of all, it seems that they are up against a killer who is very, very good at their job – known simply as the Black Wolf.

Luckily, Lola is as slippery as her murdered husband once was, and seems, for the moment, to be one step ahead. However, it is becoming clear that her grip on that lead is loosening, and her pursuers – the police, the mafia, Jon and Antonia – are all heading for an almighty collision, and the outcome is by no means certain.

If you like a quirky set of lead characters, then this series is for you.  The comparison between Antonia Scott and Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been made often, but mileage will vary on that. Either way, aye or nay, it is a huge pleasure to run the rapids of dangerous adventure with this pair of hunters, and Juan Gomez-Jurado  provides all the action and drama you could wish for.