Vendetta by Sarah Barrie

Publisher's Synopsis

Ace hacker, former sex worker and vigilante Lexi Winter is now a cop and not keen to revisit her criminal past. But when old friends invoke the wrath of a local motorcycle club - the same club Lexi herself used to work for - she races to help them the only way she can: undercover.

If Lexi is to save a child's life, she is going to have to go back - back to a life she thought she had outrun. Back to the person she used to be. But her timing isn't great. Former club president Arthur Cronin has finished his long prison sentence and is out for revenge for the death of his wife and child. As he launches a series of bomb attacks on the club members who set him up and the cops who took him down, Lexi is caught in the middle.

Torn between old loyalties and new responsibilities, she must decide once and for all which side she's on, but even if she does decide to break free, are her old criminal friends ready to let her go?

My Review of Vendetta by Sarah Barrie

The 3rd book in the Lexi Winter series unearths even more of her past as she continues to transition from hard-drinking, computer hacking prostitute to crack homicide detective. It turns out you can also add criminal bikie gang consort to her colourful past.

Lexi has received a call from Dawny suggesting she might like to come over because she and Desmond may have gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle. It seems that Des has been ordered, by a local Motorcycle Club (called Combat Crew) to dispose of a body off a wharf at Patonga Beach.

The fact that Dawny and Desmond are innocent-looking pensioners with a folksy manner belie the fact that they’ve both been involved in some pretty shonky shenanigans in the past. Their early involvement here gets things off to a spirited start. 

It seems the former president of Combat Crew, Arthur Cronin, has recently been released from prison where he’d served time for importing crack cocaine. It’s just possible he’s now running around settling old scores after family members were killed while he was in prison and the fact he’s doing it with C4 explosives makes him a dangerous guy to be around. Even worse, it appears that cops may have been involved and have managed to put themselves on his revenge list.

There’s now a new MC president in town, Breen, and he’s a hard man who’s prepared to take the club down the outlaw road big time. Drugs, guns, revenge attacks, you name it and he’s prepared to do it. The homicide detective unit, headed by Detective Inspector Rachael Langley and ably assisted by Detective Sergeant Finn Carson, are on the case and they once again rope Lexi in to provide much of the on-the-ground expertise.

But it could be that Lexi’s past is just a little too racy and the standard resentment that seems to permeate through most office environments has put her in the crosshairs of a couple of her fellow officers. The question of whose side she’s really on comes up and, undercover or otherwise, she finds herself on the side of both the angels and the devil.

The Lexi Winter series has settled into a familiar routine typified by the tough nosed attitude that has made her such an interesting character to follow. With many of the regular characters returning from the earlier books the series is developing nicely in depth. The action is swift and dialogue remains clipped and sharp, particularly within the police ranks. 

In many ways this is a shocking and explosive thriller that recalls sins of the past and asks serious questions of everyone involved. Once again, however, the main obstacle in the way of any really effective police work being done falls at the feet of the police themselves and the draconian rules that hamper them at every turn.

If your lead character is a former prostitute, one time vigilante, computer hacking expert who’s now a police officer, then of course she’s also going to have some links to a bikie gang. That’s what makes Lexi Winter such a pleasure to read about and it’s also what gives this series its sting in the tail.