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The Professionals (Putnam $27 April 1). No fooling, a standout thriller debut. Buckle up as the cat and mouse game intensifies between the different parties. The reader isn’t blindsided by the outcome, yet you can’t stop turning the pages. It’s like not being able to pull your eyes away from an impending wreck. Laukkanen has successfully captured the idiosyncrasies of agencies attempting to work together, and the inability of individuals to give up hope even when facing insurmountable odds. This isn’t a story about good versus evil, but rather one of people caught in events beyond their control, using selfjustification to try and shape a better world for themselves. It reads like watching a Die Hard movie. Sit down, strap in, and hang on.”

Owen Laukkanen’s debut thriller, THE PROFESSIONALS, will be published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons on March 29, 2012. An alumnus of the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing BFA program, Laukkanen spent three years in the world of professional poker, traveling to high-stakes tournaments across the globe as a writer for www.PokerListings.com. A commercial fisherman when he’s not writing, Laukkanen divides his time between Vancouver and Prince Edward Island, Canada. (www.owenlaukkanedn.com)