Book review: The Second Life of Nick Mason is a fast-paced crime drama

This book cover image released by G. P. Putnam's Sons shows, The Second Life of Nick Mason, by Steve Hamilton. G. P. Putnam's Sons via AP

The Second Life of Nick Mason

Steve Hamilton

G.P. Putnam’s Sons

DH61

Two-time Edgar Award winner Steve Hamilton returns with a new anti-hero and a movie deal with for his new book.

When career criminal Nick Mason gets arrested and ­refuses to roll on the rest of his crew, he’s sentenced to 25 years in prison.

But he serves only five years before he’s suddenly released and moves into an elegant lakefront Chicago condo with a hot new car in the garage. For this good fortune, Nick is ­indebted to Darius Cole, a ­notorious crime lord who rules the prison.

In return, Nick is required, under penalty of death, to do whatever Cole asks, including committing both robbery and murder.

This earns him the enmity of a squad of crooked Chicago cops who are now on his tail.

The result is a suspenseful, fast-paced crime novel with the same heart, well-drawn characters and muscular prose that fans of his popular Alex McKnight series and his fine stand-alone novels such as The Lock Artist have come to expect.