The Bottom: A five-star crime thriller that goes for the jugular from the first page to the very last.
Whatever It Takes opens, tantalizingly, with the cold-blooded execution of FBI informant Myra Taylor in the Nevada desert. As we learn in a briefing with 25-year-old Fort Worth detective Kit Hanover, Myra’s death wasn’t an isolated incident. A man living under an assumed name in Las Vegas was killed in connection to a colossal money-laundering scheme orchestrated by the Russian Mafia. In addition, two accountants from the organization have also been whacked.
When Kit learns that she’ll be asked to go undercover to help solve the case, she fears she’ll be asked to pose as a prostitute. Her guess actually isn’t far off. To get close to Vegas club owner and mobster Sonny Holman, she agrees to become a server named Belle Starr en route to a role as an exotic dancer. Fortunately for Kit, she’s experienced at Aerial Yoga, aka “Pole Fitness.” As the book goes on, she finds herself leaning even harder into the role as needed to get what she wants (“We can talk about a pimp arrangement”).
But with such a high body count, it doesn’t take a genius to assume the operation has a leak. Fortunately, Kit’s handlers feel they have narrowed the mole down to three people, thus narrowing the very real risk of detection. But their assurances melt away when she’s approached by a Pink Kitten patron/police officer who swears they’ve met before. They obviously have, and the more Kit tries to avoid him, the closer he seems to get.
Author Alan Brenham, delivering his second Kit Hanover novel, is one of the best in the business at surrounding his protagonists with a constant drip feed of personal danger. Accordingly, does the action at the Pink Kitten and elsewhere deliver menacing bad guys, salacious moments, gritty atmosphere, and potentially lethal situations? Check, check, check and check.
But Brenham’s magic formula includes weaving heart-wrenching family connections into his plots. Accordingly, early in the book, the mere mention of exotic dancing reminds Kit of her sister, Elizabeth. She swats the thought away, but not for long. As the book goes on, we come to understand not only more about Elizabeth, but also why Kit’s estranged family relationships could spell doom for her and the entire operation. It’s a narrative tool that Brenham wields expertly to serve both the book’s action as well as its emotional payoff.
