Bruno s characters are more than just quirky dressing for the plot it moves fast and furious, but along the way his characters struggles with their own doubts and failings anchor the reader to them. The Nashville Banner In Devil s Food, the first book in the Loretta Kovacs thriller series, it s make-it-or-break-it time for zaftig Loretta when she s assigned to the ragtag Parole Violators Search Unit, a.k.a. the Jump Squad. All her buttons are pushed when she goes undercover as a desperate dieter at a Florida fat farm in order to nab an embezzler who s a perfect size 2."