The End Game — Carter Swart

What is The End Game? It's the final strategy of a vicious killer haunted by unfinished business. Unfortunately, that unfinished business is Lou Corso. Lou, the tough ex-LAPD cop with the heart of gold, is slowly drinking himself to death over the recent losses of Phoebe Peck (Deceived by Death) -- his former partner and mentor -- and Joan Queen (Insufficient Evidence) -- his tormented lover and sweet companion. Lou feels betrayed by life -- by the bad breaks and lost opportunities. But the real betrayal is about to begin as Lou attempts to pull himself up out of the dark depths of despair and personal heartache to run his security company. He is also determined to continue his work rescuing battered women. In the latest Lou Corso tale, betrayal seems to come disguised as a beautiful woman, and Lou is suddenly surrounded by beautiful women. For a guy who hasn't particularly been lucky in love, Lou seems poised for a new start in life. But which beautiful woman holds the promise of a bright future and which one holds a swift and painful death? As if that were not enough, some old business turns up -- a singularly brutish wife beater -- a giant of a man who almost killed Lou in their last encounter -- has been paroled for good behavior. He comes to tell Lou that he has seen the error of his ways, the error of beating his wife almost to death before Lou intervened five years ago. But Lou is uneasy -- -he is sure that he is being stalked. When his car is vandalized and his old friend Abe Brown's operatives start dying, Lou, knows that a confrontation is coming. a life and death confrontation with a killer determined to even the score in a game that will be The End Game.