Swierczynski takes a set-up that sounds familiar (a world-weary and paranoid ex-cop who is reluctantly drawn back into the world of serving and protecting) and breathes new life into it. Charlie Hardie isn't trying to be a hero, but he won't stand by and let people suffer when he can do something about it. This high-octane action novel is a treat, one that fans of thrillers are sure to love.

Duane Swierczynski's Fun & Games, the first in a trilogy, is aptly titled--like an amusement-park ride, it blows your hair back and leaves you gasping for more. What the title doesn't tell you is that the games being played are deadly, and the fun is had by stone-cold killers.

Protagonist Charlie Hardie is a professional house-sitter whose latest assignment is minding a film composer's lair in the Hollywood Hills. All he wants to do is spend the week on the couch drinking and watching DVDs. Instead, he finds drugged-up actress Lane Madden hiding in the house, yammering about how "they" are out to get her. Her claims are soon proven true, and Charlie gets caught up in her life-or-death struggle, trying to vanquish the ruthless people who are determined to trap and kill the two of them. Along the way, Charlie discovers why the killers are targeting Lane, a reason almost as terrible as his own secrets.

Charlie is the most entertaining protagonist I've met in a long time. He's a reluctant hero who fights back only when he's angered, like a sleeping bear who's been poked with a stick. Once on the warpath, though, there is no stopping him. Lane is a resilient yet vulnerable character whose life hasn't been made easier by her fame and beauty.

The pulp noir-ish story has more turns than the twisty L.A. canyon roads that provide its setting, and the pacing is as fast as a car careening down those same roads without brakes. Charlie Hardie is a winning protagonist I'll follow to Hell--Hell & Gone, that is, the next installment, coming this October.