Publication Date: March 20, 2024
Abigail Barnes is young, pretty and petite, but her looks and size can be deceiving. She’s a tough as nails drifter who makes her living collecting outstanding debts for low-end bookies and loan sharks, Abigail arrives in Hackensack, NJ, from Baltimore, MD, and gets a job collecting for a small-time bookie, who winds up dead.
With a large Wall Street firm moving into town bringing jobs, prestige, and money, the press is soon up in arms about the killing. So the cops to put the squeeze on Ronnie “Slacks” Falcone, a mobster who heads organized crime in the Jersey City area, to help find the killer.
Soon Abigail finds herself being sought by a gang of hoodlums, the mob, and the police. She knows she can’t run and she won’t turn herself in because she has a past that could send her to jail. She has little choice but to try and find out who killed the bookie – without getting killed in the process.
Organized crime thrillers typically follow a set pattern of good guys vs. bad guys. However, author Steven Max Russo introduces a new twist.
Introducing Abigail Barnes, a pint-sized beauty with a very particular skill set. She rolls into the Jersey City area looking for work in The Debt Collector.
What makes her unique is the type of debt collection she practices. Instead of the traditional phone collection calls, Abigail collects debts for loan sharks and bookies. Not only does she break the stereotypical mode for this type of work, but her crafty approach is pure genius.
Trouble begins when a bookie is murdered and his safe cleared out after an encounter with Abigail. As the police investigation turns up the heat in the mobster community, all signs point to one culprit. The catch? She didn’t do it.
The Debt Collector showcases a new twist as a young woman searches for a killer while avoiding capture.
Steven Max Russo has spent most of his professional career as an advertising copywriter and agency owner. He got interested in writing fiction after one of his short stories was accepted by an online literary journal in 2013. Then he caught the bug and began writing seriously. The publication of his first novel, THIEVES, has garnered praise from renowned crime and thriller authors from around the globe. With a gritty writing style and unique voice, he is quickly winning a legion of new fans. Steve is proud to call New Jersey his home.
