The blade itself

Opens with a pawnshop robbery that goes bad when one of two thieves shoots the owner and the other one slips away before the cops arrive. Fast forward seven years and the one who got away has made a respectable life for himself until his ex-partner, released from prison, comes calling with a plan to kidnap his boss's kid. Not wanting to admit to his complicity in the pawnshop shooting, hoping to forestall more violence, he goes along - but his childhood friend has turned into a stone-cold killer. A well-written and suspenseful book that explores childhood loyalties tested in adulthood. The social analysis that seems to justify criminality as redistribution of wealth would offend most of the working class stiffs I know, but that quibble aside, I found it quite enjoyable - even the over-the-top ending.