The Recruiter: A Rick Carter Novel

by Gregg Podolski, Jamie Renell (Read by)

Overview

An action-packed debut from Gregg Podolski, The Recruiter is a thrilling and unique adventure through the European underworld.

When bad guys need good help, they call Rick Carter.

He’s a criminal recruiter, searching for contract killers, hackers, gun smugglers, and any other assorted villains-for-hire a European crime boss might need. But, when the family he left behind in New Jersey is caught up in a client’s plot to monopolize the black market, Rick has to save them from two of his own top candidates: deadly assassins known only as Ghost and The Persian.

Fixing his own mess will require a set of skills he doesn’t have—not a problem, as finding qualified help is where he excels. But stepping into action, becoming the hero his family needs, that’s new territory. For a man who’s spent the last ten years being the best at helping the worst, this may be his last chance to do something right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212021357
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	07/23/2024
Series:	The Rick Carter Series , #1
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gregg Podolski lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. When not writing, he works as an executive recruiter for a family-owned staffing firm. He loves Philly sports, the Jersey Shore, and is one of the last people on the planet who still buys CDs. The Recruiter is his first novel. If you don’t like it, that’s cool. Just lie and say you do. Seriously, it will be our little secret.

Jamie Renell is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

Editorial Reviews

05/06/2024

Podolski debuts with a tense crime drama centered on Rick Carter, a recruiter of expert criminals who must save his family after a job goes sideways. Rick’s troubles begin when a Belgian mob boss named Trish threatens to kill him if he refuses to oversee hits on six law enforcement officers across the globe. Reluctantly, Rick gets to work, but he’s jolted when he realizes that one of the targets—a Philadelphia police detective—is his ex-wife’s new husband. Refusing to help kill his children’s stepfather, Rick tries to back out, and Trish makes good on her promise, unleashing two assassins to hunt him down. That sends Rick on a mad dash to protect the family he abandoned in New Jersey 10 years earlier, and he draws on his network of nefarious associates to throw his pursuers off the trail. Though some of Rick’s hand-wringing grows maudlin, for the most part Podolski nails it on his first go-round, delivering a page-turner with sharp dialogue and a memorable protagonist. Here’s hoping readers hear more from Rick soon. Agent: Daniel Milaschewski, UTA. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A skillful and page-turning action thriller that does not let up for a second…Podolski nails it.”

First Clue Reviews

Rick Carter is the ‘creator of monsters’ and I’m here for all of it. Full stop. Podolski’s debut thriller will keep you riveted, and that’s an understatement. But beyond a guy who enlists the services of villains is a story about a person trying desperately to hold on to what is most important: family. A cause you will rally behind while on this spectacular ride.”

Anthony-nominated author of Her Name Is Knight Yasmin Angoe

Rick Carter is cunning and capable with a sarcastic wit and hilarious one-liners. It feels like the heir apparent to Nelson DeMille’s John Corey has just burst onto the scene in a big way.”

author of The Infiltrator T. R. Hendricks

Buckle up! This is one faaaaaast hot rod of a thrill ride.”

internationally bestselling and multi-award-winnin Avanti Centrae

The Recruiter is both a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller and at times a moving character study. Rick Carter is a man who lives at the nexus of different lives. When those lives crash together against his will, we see who the real Rick Carter is, and even he is surprised. A fascinating and sometimes introspective journey into the heart of the underworld; I really enjoyed it.”

bestselling author of Razorblade Tears and All the S. A. Cosby

Wow! What an excellent thriller—gritty noir with hard-boiled, smart-ass humor, but also a deep, empathetic view into a character who should be abhorrent yet is convincingly transformed into a hero the reader is rooting for. A stunning debut thriller with echoes of Raymond Chandler.”

author of the award-winning Tawny Lindholm thrille Debbie Burke

Podolski creates a rich new world of assassins and underworld in his debut, setting up a sequel with a cliffhanger that will hit you like a full bucket of frozen water…Carter will win your heart and your desire to keep reading more of his stories. I can’t wait to read what troubles Podolski puts him up against next.”

Best Thriller Books

2024-05-17
A highly successful middleman who arranges contract killings is put on the spot when his latest success leads to a contract he really doesn’t want.

Rick Carter—not his real name, of course—is the man you call when you have a problem that requires a violent and decisive solution. Since drifting into this work years ago to support his wife, Denise, and their children, Maggie and Ethan, he’s brokered many successful arrangements between clients and hit men before and after abandoning the family he could no longer shield from the consequences of his lucrative practice. When his latest success—a double murder committed by rising star Ian Matthews at the request of mid-tier crime boss Leon White—brings him to the attention of bent Interpol operative Patricia Baum, he’s flattered but unwilling to arrange the deaths of six members of an international task force on trafficking: two from the FBI, two from MI5, and two from Mossad. Trish, who doesn’t care about his scruples, presses him to the breaking point, and he’s soon engaged Ghost and The Persian, a pair of seasoned professionals, to join Ian, allotting them two targets apiece. The situation abruptly gets more complicated when Ian calls to tell Rick that Trish has quietly added a third target to his list: Robert Baglioni, a Philadelphia homicide detective who’s engaged to Denise. So Rick bands together with his old friend Joey Walls, a well-connected seller of drugs and guns, and Erica Krieg, an aspiring assassin who’s been drummed out of the German Special Forces, to protect Rob and the family he’s convinced are in the sights of the A-list killers he’s just hired.

Enough action, killing, twists, and betrayals for a whole season of quality TV.

Kirkus Reviews