Loaded with testosterone and high-caliber weapons, Rhoades's hard-boiled debut lurches from one bloody gun battle to another in the streets and back alleys of Fayetteville, N.C., as a bounty hunter finds himself drawing highly unwelcome attention. When dim-witted cousins DeWayne and Leonard kill an old Lumbee Indian during their first armed robbery, they get a load of trouble along with the cash. Raymond, one of the victim's sons and a vicious local crime boss, vows to kill everyone involved with his father's death.Caught in between is Jack Keller, a bail bondsman's enforcer; he's after DeWayne for skipping out on his breaking and entering bail. A Gulf War veteran tormented by guilt over the deaths of his squad members in a friendly fire incident, Jack must now deal with the two armed robbers, crazed Raymond and his gang of assorted Colombian gunmen, and sadistic cops who mistakenly think he's the cause of all the mayhem. Resourceful and determined, Jack happily lays out a few bad guys himself, but he's annoyed that everybody wants to kill him, too. He is arrested, beaten up, shot at and pursued, making miraculous escapes each time in the best pulp fiction tradition. Add spectacular car chases, kidnapping, torture, carjacking, a dozen killings and lukewarm sex scenes, and this gritty novel has everything it needs except for suspense, mystery and likable characters.*Starred Review* Rhoades slaps this supercharged crime-fiction debut into overdrive in the first paragraph and never lets up through nearly 300 pages of nonstop action. It starts with a simple armed robbery in which two dumb and dumber ex-cons, Leonard and DeWayne, set out to steal the weekly payroll from an elderly Native American who owns a construction company.It quickly goes wrong, however, and the owner is killed. Meanwhile, bounty hunter Jack Keller, a Gulf War vet with a head full of nightmares, is already tracking bail-jumper DeWayne. He'll have to hurry, though, if he hopes to find his quarry before the dead man's son, a drug dealer who is every bit as violent and considerably crazier than the killers he tracks. Throw in a couple of psycho cops with a thing about bounty hunters, and you have the narrative equivalent of a string of homemade bombs timed to explode at random along the Arkansas back roads.Like Stephen Hunter's Dirty White Boys, however, this is not simply a car-chase-with-fireworks novel; Rhoades builds his rampaging white boys from the ground up, complete with believable backstory and humanizing shots of Pulp Fiction-like humor. Keller is a definite keeper, the kind of flawed noir hero that women want to nurse, cops want to bust, and bad guys want to hurt. There's a formula at work here, of course, but Rhoades never gives us time to feel manipulated.
How could I resist a book that takes its title from a Steve Earle song? Of course it's a song about handguns, ("Mama says a pistol is a devil's right hand.") and there are lots of handguns in this book. Not to mention shotguns and automatics and various other types of devices capable of killing another human being.I enjoyed this book. It takes place in my neck of the woods and there is a kind of vicarious thrill reading about all this action (murder, beatings, car chases and kidnapping) taking place in Fayetteville, Robeson County and Brunswick County, which is just across the bridge from Wilmington, NC. Rhoades populates the book with an interesting cast of characters, the Lumbee Indian Raymond, the hapless good old boys Dewayne and Leonard, the crooked cops in Fayetteville NC, and of course, bail bond enforcer Jack Keller.
Do You like book The Devil's Right Hand (2005)?
This high octane thriller from author J.D. Rhoades is pedal to the floor action that needs no pit stops. "The Devil's Right Hand", features protagonist Jack Keller a bail bonds enforcement detective. Keller must track down DeWayne Puryear and haul him back for court appearance. Crazy DeWayne and his equally crazy cousin Leonard are out running around creating mayhem. After the pair rob and kill the father of John Lee and Raymond, all hell breaks out. In a whirlwind of a plot, one really needs a scorecard to keep track of who is after who. During a shoot out between DeWayne/ Leonard against Raymond/ John Lee, and Oscar Sanchez who was added on to help track, the fur really begins to fly. Keller gets involved with the shootout causing Leonard and John lee being killed. After the shootout, a crazy car chase ends when a cop is killed, with Keller taking the blame. Keller "hooks up" with the partner of the dead cop, Marie Jones and things start to get steamy. Several very involved car chases and crazy shootouts keeps this book blazing along. It's wonderful characters and spot on dialog were well used here. From page to page it was hard to figure out who was gonna survive and how would it all go down. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one from cover to cover. (First screen to last screen on my Kindle). The book is just a spellbinding story. Author J.D. Rhoades really knows how to build a crazy story within a plot. Even some romance was key in keeping this one packed with action. Easily 5 stars out of a possible 5, this one hits a home run. I'd highly recommend this one to anyone that wants a thriller that cannot relax. It's action and pushes the envelope of crazy. Having now read several of author Rhoades books, I'm hooked ! They pack a solid punch and entertain throughout. If you haven't tried a Rhoades, give this one a test drive. Be sure your seat belts are firmly attached-You're gonna need them !
—Jim
My second Rhoades book, my first of the Keller series. I don't know what it is about the Rhoades novels that I find so appealing. They really aren't anything special. The protagonist, Keller, is a bail bond retrieval specialist (bounty hunter) who is packing a lot of baggage from the Gulf War. In this book he is chasing a bail skip, DeWayne Puryear, who in turn is being chased by a criminal because DeWayne killed the criminal's father. Keller gets involved in his own way after he kills the brother of the drug dealer. Add into the equation some local cops who are after Keller for their own reasons and you have a fast paced book.
—Jim A
