From Booklist
In recent years, mystery writers seem to have entered a secret contest to see who could come up with the best variant on the traditional detective heroes: cops or ex-cops (usually wounded or traumatized) turned private eyes. Russell should walk off with the award for far and away the most inventive new detective hero--an ex-DEA agent who now heads a covert special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game. Lieutenant Marquez's job is to protect wildlife, but two discoveries--a slew of empty abalone shells and the bodies of two murdered divers--propel Marquez back into his narc-fighting days. Behind the empty shells and the slain divers is a drug runner making big money smuggling abalone. The plot moves, credibly and intriguingly, from Marquez's bewildering discovery to a fight for his own life as the drug lord hunts him down. A first-rate start to a projected series. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Masters of crime fiction immediately hailed Shell Games, which introduced a dynamic new hero and an exciting new author. Michael Connelly: "You know when you read this one that you are on to something good. Kirk Russell comes out of the gate with a story brimming with fresh characters and artful prose." John Lescroart: "Excellent...a compelling plot, fully realized characters, white-knuckle suspense, and unusual yet accessible settings." Ridley Pearson: "...a wonderfully unpredictable plot that holds the reader hostage to the very last page." And Jan Burke: "...a great read...it's hard to believe it's a first novel." Hero John Marquez runs an undercover unit of the California Department of Fish and Game and is taking on international abalone poachers, when he discovers that he's not finished with the ghosts and threats from his past as a drug agent. A completely original and entertaining eco-thriller and crime novel, now in paperback.