USA Today
Barger, best-selling author of Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club and former president of the Hell's Angels, burns rubber with this joyride of a story while co-authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman help keep it running like a classic Harley.— Nicholas Thomas
Publishers Weekly
Legendary Hell's Angel Barger (Hell's Angel; Ridin' High, Livin' Free) teams once again with co-authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman on this debut novel of motorcycles and murder. Patch Kinkade, ex-president of the Oakland, Calif., chapter of the Infidelz motorcycle club, the toughest MC in the West, has relocated to Arizona in the wake of a busted marriage. But he finds that ties to home and past are not easily severed. The Infidelz have a serious dust-up in a bar with three other clubs-the 2Wheelers, Soul Sacrifice and the Gun Runners ("Fists flew everywhere. Broken ribs. Broken arms. Broken bottles. Broken teeth. Broken pride)"-and after it's over, a new member of the Infidelz lies dead in the parking lot, his murder seemingly unrelated to the fight inside. Ahab, the president of the Oakland chapter, hunts down Patch and asks him to investigate. Soon enough, the reluctant Patch is back in Oakland, facing renegade FBI agents and unexpected treachery and deceit. The authors have an un-ironic, breezy style: "Patch wore no businessman's haircut. The wind was his stylist." Despite colorful nicknames (girls named Blondie and LiLac, dudes called Nine Inch, 12-12 and Eight Ball), thin characterization leads to reader confusion, and degenerate behavior makes it difficult to cheer for the novel's putative good guys. The mystery falls flat, but there's plenty of sex, violence and tricked-out bikes in this "gasoline and adrenaline" ride. Barger's fans should love it. (Oct.) Forecast: Aggressive marketing, including a coast-to coast motorcycle rally tie-in tour, coupled with the indefatigable Barger's extensive signing schedule, will mobilize the faithful and make this a seller. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Nonstop violence in a debut thriller about sociopaths on wheels. If you belong to the Infidelz, the preeminent motorcycle club in northern California, you'd better be ready to maim and kill at a moment's notice. But that's okay: you like maiming and killing. It's why you hooked up in the first place. "Patch" Kinkade, alienated, battle-scarred, encyclopedically tattooed-"skulls, gargoyles, fiery crosses, tombstones, thunderballs, and . . . the names of ex-girlfriends"-is a lurid case in point. For 23 years, better than half his life, he's worn the black and orange (complete with demon skull) of Infidelz. He's served as club president; earned membership in its elite 187 Crue (187, to honor the murder statute in California's penal code); been anointed a 1%er ("the baddest of the bad"); and so on down an unabashedly sociopathic list. But, as the story opens, Patch has decided, for personal reasons, to forsake Oakland-scene of his glory days. Throwing a leg across his beloved Mean Machine (a Harley Road King), he heads for Arizona and new citizens to intimidate-though not for long. During his brief absence, internecine war has broken out. As a result of a bad night at Trader's Roadhouse, bikers from the Gun Runners, the 2Wheelers, and Soul Sacrifice, others joining in along the way, have taken to killing each other off. So far, Infidelz isn't directly involved, but everyone knows it soon will be, and that Patch, plus his weapon of choice, a seven-inch Schrade blade, will be needed. He owns a lot of Schrades. Why not? Multipurposed and sturdy, they're also cheap enough to "leave stuck in some unlucky victim." Barger, an ex-president of the notorious Hell's Angels, has authored (with an assistfrom the Zimmermans) nonfiction about biker activities and clearly knows whereof he speaks-if that's a recommendation. Agent: Jim Fitzgerald/Carol Mann Agency
