Books – Biker by Mike Baron

Somewhere inside biker Josh Pratt is a good man. Accepting Christ in prison, Josh has bent a few rules with the help of his lawyer and become a private detective. He’s trying to keep on the straight and narrow, but when his new girlfriend asks him to find her friend’s missing son, kidnapped by his biker father shortly after being born, he reluctantly accepts. Pratt has no idea he’d be better off kicking a hornet’s nest and running screaming through the horde. Josh infiltrates biker culture and finds a lead—the boy’s father is a criminal and a very dangerous man. He is also one of the most feared gang enforcers in the world. Now Josh has to find the boy, deal with his crazy new girlfriend and protect everyone in his life from the boy’s sadistic father. And make it to heaven. All in a day’s work. 

Writer Mike Baron is one of finest comic book writers the field has ever produced, creating Nexus, the Badger, the Butcher and many other memorable characters (and if you look hard enough, you can catch up with the Badger in his Biker cameo). Here he turns in an action packed novel about a conflicted man trying to do the right thing, but having to break a lot of clavicles to do it. Josh Pratt may be a Godly man, but he’s still tough as nails and will do what the situation requires. If I had one criticism of Biker, it is that Pratt needs to break a few more heads. He does diffuse a few situations by bravado alone before they get out of hand. Baron is such a great hand-to-hand combat writer I would have loved to have read a few more brawling fistfights. Still, a superb read with a fun plot, great pacing and some white-knuckle action. How many other books will you read this month where the protagonist faces off against a mountain lion with a pocketknife? I loved it! 

Rating: **** out of 5 stars