Mark is blinded in one eye but survives. In exchange for his testimony against Victor Jr., Mark enters the Witness Protection Program, is given a new identity as Mark Verre and relocates to Napa Valley, California, where he works at a winery. Three years pass.

Harry Vlad is also an art thief. After he is released from prison, he has a plan. A photograph in Connoisseur magazine has alerted him to Mark’s probable location in the San Francisco area. Harry will move to the same area, adopt Mark’s signature style of stealing only a single item from the scene of a theft, and acquire the prize money offered by Victor Ganero, Sr., for information on Mark’s new identity and whereabouts.

Although Victor Jr.’s trial ended in a mistrial, he was shot and his body dumped in an alley. Ganero is convinced that Mark is to blame. Ganero has moved from New York to Phoenix along with some of his mafioso henchmen where he continues to amass a collection of priceless religious art.

Lisa Cole is an insurance investigator. A rash of art thefts in the Bay Area leads her to believe that Mark Martel has resumed his old career. Her uncle, who once worked with the Witness Protection Program, has given her Mark’s direction. Mark now has a comfortable life with the winery and has a girlfriend Arlene, who is a chef at an exclusive Napa Valley restaurant and who has a young teenage daughter. He does not want to risk exposure and possible relocation with a new identity. He offers to do his own investigation for Lisa and discover who has adopted his signature style.

But there is no honor among thieves, and things will turn very dangerous for Mark and those around him very soon.

While Mark possesses many of the classic attributes of the fictional suspense hero - nerves of steel, insightful and intuitive, audacious - his chosen career makes him morally suspect. Mark seems to regard art theft as being on a higher plane than ordinary theft, but targeting only the expensive stuff doesn’t mitigate the conduct. Moreover, it’s hard to feel much admiration for a guy who made his living stealing other people’s precious art and places the women he loves in jeopardy.

It’s the lack of sympathetic characters - Arlene and her daughter are the only truly decent people in the book - that weakens the story. There is an abundance of characters, and most of them are definitely deficient in the moral fiber department. Most readers want to see good triumph over evil and the good guys win out over the bad guys. But there aren’t many characters wearing white hats in this narrative.

The story is well-paced with plenty of action and few slow parts. It is most likely to appeal to readers who are looking for a fast-moving plot and who are willing to overlook the lack of admirable characters.

--Lesley Dunlap