Last Shot

by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Troubleshooting comes the story of an ex-marine's escape from Terminal Island Penitentiary, Deputy U.S. Marshal Rackley's search for him, Rackley's sister's mysterious... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006073146X
• ISBN13: 9780060731465
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 419 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good Action Thriller!

The hero of this book is Tim Rackley, U.S. Marshall. Rackley is noted for tracking down escaped convicts.In this novel he has met a very worthy advesary. Walker Jameson is a Force Recon Marine is very deadly. Jameson has staged a daring escape from the Terminal Island Penitentary. This escape is impossible. Jameson is looking to gain vengance for his sister and her son who suffers from a liver disease. The villains in this story is the Kagan family who control Vector Biogenics. Jameson keeps discovering clues linking the Kagans to his sister's death. He discovers that a hit man named the Piper was hired to kill his sister. Tim Rackley is doing all that he can to apprehend Jameson. Jameson proves to be nearly impossible to apprehend. He leaves a trail of bodies in his pursuit of the Kagans. This was a very good story that you will enjoy reading.Be sure to read it.

Almost Reads Like the "Troubleshooter" vs. Bob Lee Swagger

Gregg Hurwitz continues to be a terrifically compelling writer and his Deputy US Marshall character, Tim Rackley, has become a don't miss read. His books are intelligently written, filled with suspense, and carried by action sequences at breakneck pacing. In "Last Shot", Rackley is faced with moral dilemmas and with introspective confrontations with his own philosophical beliefs and codes that give deeper insight into his character. Rackley must pursue a recent escapee from Terminal Island Penitentiary, Walker Jameson, who quickly seems determined to leave a trail of bodies in his seach for justice for the killing of his sister, Tess. The problem for Rackley is that Jameson is as good or a little better in spec. ops. strategizing, tactics, and killing than he is. Further complicating Rackley's pursuit is his growing realization that as more and more is uncovered about Jameson's life, military career, and "code of honor", the more Tim respects him and his mission--knowing all the while that the two of them are destined for a violent climax. Tess Jameson was seeking a miracle cure for her liver diseased 7 year old when she turned up dead in an apparent suicide. Walker gets a cryptic piece of information from a snitch that impels him to escape from a high security prison and begin investigating Tess's "suicide" as a murder. Of course, as in many of Hurwitz' books, he must come into conflict with corporate America bad-boys, this time a mega pharmaceutical empire set to unveil a "cure" for what ails Walker's nephew. Walker Jameson is a skilled man hunter and tactical technician who will enthrall you with his ploys, his secrets, and his various strategems to garner valuable information against his enemies but also in his ability to out guess Rackley's crew of deputies and even "use" Rackley for his own purposes. The strategical cat and mouse struggle between Jameson and Rackley propels the action and storyline at breakneck speed and keeps the reader guessing as to how this can possible turn out and perhaps, even hoping Jameson emerges intact in the end. As with most of Hurwitz' books, my attention was quickly captured as two very volatile, higly trained, and complex individuals were drawn into each other's spheres of activity and which made them adversaries and collaborators at the same moments. The action and violence underscores the search for the truth about Tess's death, the fate of the dying nephew, and ultimately, Rackley's commitment to do his duty. He, as mentioned, questions himself, his skills, what he would do in a similar situation, and, ultimately, how man can be both bad and good at the same time. I enjoyed the Walker Jameson character immensely and likened him (with more of a cynical edge) to Bob Lee Swagger in the Stephen Hunter series. I found myself smiling at his tactics and successes and hoping maybe for a new exciting character in a future Hurwitz series. Lovers of action and suspense should not pass up "Last

Non-stop action makes for a fast and fun read

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to ride a rocket sled? Read a Gregg Hurwitz novel and you will know. In his most recent novel starring U.S. Marshall Tim Rackley of Troubleshoot fame, Hurwitz spins a whirlwind yarn that uses nearly every bad guy archetype required in a thriller of this caliber. Walker Jameson is a former First Force Recon Marine sniper and hero to the men that served with him. He has just over three months to serve on his prison sentence at California's Terminal Island Correctional Facility when he is approached by a prison flunky who whispers three words in his ear. That night Jameson orchestrates a spectacular escape and vanishes before any type of coordinated response can be gathered. Rackley and his team of fellow Marshalls are immediately assigned to track and recapture a deadly fugitive who has all the skills to hide and stay hidden until after Rackley retires. However, Jameson does not stay hidden for long. As the investigation progresses, Rackley learns of the apparent suicide of Jameson's sister, Tess, whose son suffers from incurable liver disease, is now under the care of Jameson's ex-wife, Kaitlin. This fact exposed, Rackley surmises that the spectacular escape of Walker Jameson is intertwined with the upcoming release of a new medication, a radical new cure, of which Tess's son was the poster boy, until he was removed from the program during the final selection process. After interviewing Kaitlin Jameson, Rackley begins a parallel investigation of Tess Jameson's untimely death. What they find convinces them that Jameson has escaped to engage in a death hunt, to search and destroy those that brought about her death. As the bodies begin to pile up, the pursuit intensifies as they piece together small leads into a much bigger case that has implications leading them into the dungeons of insatiable corporate greed, double dealing and hired murder. Hurwitz masterfully details a desperate hunt for one of his best bad guys to date-a man who will stop at nothing to right a wrong and make those responsible pay the ultimate price. Armchair Interviews says: Light-speed read. As with all the Troubleshooter novels, the action is death defying and literally non-stop.

A smart action thriller

"Last Shot" is the latest thriller from Gregg Hurwitz, a rising star of the genre. A graduate of Harvard and Oxford, Hurwitz has the literary background to infuse his stories with an intelligence that is a welcome complement to the pulse-pounding action. Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Rackley has finally met his match in escaped prisoner Walker Jameson, an ex-Marine with tactical skills that are the equal to Rackley's own. Jameson has broken out of prison and it's up to Rackley to track him down. As he follows the convict's trail, however, the marshal can't help but wonder what's really going on. In particular, he wants to know why a man with only a year left on his sentence would escape from prison. "Last Shot" is an exciting thriller with plenty of great action scenes. But it also probes some interesting moral questions, in particular the identity of the story's true villain.

Slow-starting but worth the wait.

The latest of Gregg Hurwitz's novels featuring US Marshall Tim Rackley gets off to a slightly slower start than some of the others; in fact the action doesn't really start getting intense until about a third of the way through the book. Keep reading, though, it's worth it. One word of advice for new readers: if you haven't read the previous three volumes already, read those first, and THEN read this; the experience will be much richer if you know the characters and their pasts better (though you'll still be able to follow the events fine). The ending is, as one can expect from a Tim Rackley novel, extremely satisfying. Hurwitz gives bad guys their comeuppance beautifully. Hurwitz still has yet to top The Program, but this is easily as good as Troubleshooter or the Kill Clause.