Roughan, who previously co-wrote Honeymoon and Sail with Patterson, returns once a gain for another quick-paced thriller. This time, the focus is on the mob. Nick Daniels is a reporter for Citizen magazine covering the Darfur region of the Sudan, when a scary incident sends him home just in time for the scoop of a lifetime. Dwayne Robinson, former Yankee-supertar pitcher who dropped out of baseball under a shroud of controversy related to drugs and other issues, has decided to come out of hiding. He wants Nick to be the journalist to tell his story.

Nick's editor, Courtney, has set up a luncheon meeting between the two of them at Lombarto's Steakhouse in Manhattan, one of those a-list restaurants where anyone who is anyone eats. Nick and Dwayne's dinner proves to be a little more exciting than expected when a mob hit including the carving out of a lawyer's eyes and the death of two police officers starts Nick on a trail that will send him running for his life because he ends up with the crucial clue that will solve who is behind the hit.

At first, mob boss Eddie Pinero seems like the most likely suspect. Not only is there evidence supporting the possibility, but he definitely has a grudge against the victim, who was a mob lawyer that recently lost a case against Pinero. With a little research Nick starts to question if Pinero is really behind the gruesome attack. Nick can't help but start questioning the facts when Dwayne ends up committing suicide and Nick starts to follow up with why the former player wanted to meet in the first place. As it can be guessed, what he starts to learn makes him a target of the mob assassin himself.

The storyline quickly becomes muddied with red herrings galore with the involvement of the NYPD, the FBI, a DA hoping to become New York City's next mayor, another local mob family, the Russian mafia, and Nick's blind niece. It will require the reader to totally dispense all belief as Nick transitions from one dangerous situation to the next, leading to bodily harm that is much smaller in damage than can be believed.

At his core, Nick could be an interesting protagonist, but he seems as flat as the rest of the cast which has, at most, only minimal development. Instead, readers find themselves stuck in a population filled with stereotypes and archetypes, which results in a pretty predictable plotline, unfortunately. With that said, it is a really a quick read filled with action and would likely make a great movie.

The books is also filled with themes relating to the eye: blinking, blindness, eyeballs, and it really seems forced most of the time. This is definitely not one of the best books under the Patterson brand.