When I think of Nick Petrie’s Peter Ash novels, I jokingly say to myself, You had me at Reacher! I was initially attracted to this series because of the comparisons that authors and reviewers had made between Peter Ash and Lee Child's Jack Reacher. I was sold and never looked back.

The action does not take long to start in THE PRICE YOU PAY, the eighth installment in the series, as Peter is contacted by his good friend and ex-marine colleague, Lewis. The two have been involved in many situations and cases that required them not only to bend the rules, but to thwart the plans of some powerful and dangerous people.

"[T]he last act of THE PRICE YOU PAY takes a sudden turn as Peter, in order to help his friends, must cross that line between darkness and light and go to extreme lengths."

It turns out that their pal, Teddy, had kept a set of notebooks that outlined information about all the cases he worked on, including those with Lewis. If they were to fall into the wrong hands, it could mean bad things for Lewis and his family. Peter and Lewis make their way to Teddy's place at the height of a Wisconsin snowstorm. Once they arrive, their worst fears are confirmed. They find a pile of Teddy's beloved dogs all lying dead in the snow, having bled out from gunshots.

Teddy has survived the ordeal but is badly beaten. Nevertheless, he joins Peter and Lewis as they try to determine the identity of the scoundrels who took the notebooks. They encounter a young punk named Mika, who tells them that it’s already too late; the information was given to those who paid him to get it. This deadly group, the “Ghost Killers,” are not to be trifled with.

Peter has a network he uses for assistance and intel. So this time he reaches out to his girlfriend, June Cassidy, a reporter with Public Investigations, a nonprofit group of investigative journalists who are great at getting all sorts of information. He learns more about the Ghost Killers, who have an eerily successful track record that includes making people disappear.

The inevitable happens when Lewis' home is destroyed by the Ghost Killers, causing his wife and young sons to flee. They are taken in by Peter and June. With the assistance of Teddy, the small team is determined to take this battle all the way rather than merely sitting around and waiting to be eliminated without a trace.

As a result, the last act of THE PRICE YOU PAY takes a sudden turn as Peter, in order to help his friends, must cross that line between darkness and light and go to extreme lengths. Without this, they have no chance to defeat their foes and recover the information that was stolen from them. Redemption can be both sweet and costly.