Copp For Hire, the first of the Joe Copp, Private Eye thrillers, is a high tension, fast-moving story all the way, with Copp always in the eye of the storm and about to be engulfed in it at any moment. Characteristic of Don Pendleton's stories, the hero is never passively involved but is the catalyst for action in straight-ahead, hard-hitting pursuit of solutions, although forever at the point of being overwhelmed by the developing situations. This is classic hardboiled detective fare, and Pendleton is a master of the form. Tough, cagey, ex-cop turned private eye, Joe Copp, descends into the labyrinth of forbidden sex, corrupt politics, and multiple murders. It is a powerful story of gray and light and shifting shadows that conceal as much as they reveal about human nature. The fast moving story takes Joe Copp to the rough and tumble, down and dirty, anything-goes underbelly of Los Angeles and on to the deadly vice pits of Honolulu's Chinatown. Publishers Weekly: "This Joe Copp adventure reads like an express train. A throwback to the vintage Spillane era, Pendleton knows how to keep us turning the pages." St. Petersburg Times: "Pendleton has a great new character in Copp. His style is fresh, the pace is brisk, and there are enough twists to please any mystery fan." Library Journal: "Pendleton, author of the long-running paperback Executioner series, shows in his first hardcover that hardboiled writing can be insightful as well as action-packed." ALA Booklist: "This is the real thing, the hardcover debut of the author of the perennially popular 'Executioner series'...the charm of the Executioner books." Milwaukee Sentinel: "Pendleton is a master of action and dialog and 'Copp' is a taut detective story."