Paul Costa, bar owner, father and former Naval officer, is drawn into a world where Cajun hackers, a reluctant FBI agent, and his own circle of friends act after an employee suicide. Brad, Paul's youngest and newest employees dies by his own hand, leaving an obscene note, and his younger sister and nephew. It's not long before Paul's past, and Africa's recent history collide in a reality where slavery, child prostitution and vast wealth are swirling in a deadly whirlpool, drawing him deeper and further from all of the people he loves, and the quiet, rational life he was leading. Life, death and servitude in the modern world are mixed in a lethal cocktail, no ice. Straight Up. A tale of international intrigue involving human traffickers; wealthy men; murderers, mercenaries, and assassins; computer hackers; and hundreds of millions of dollars in gold. Sounds like a day in the life of John Wick or James Bond, but it is author Matthew Nunes' everyman bartender and perennial hero, Paul Costa, fresh from his adventures in Nunes' two earlier novels, Last Call and On the Rocks.-John Silveira, author of Danielle Kidnapped, The Devil You Know, Sex and Sins in the Cemetery, and The Coming American Dictatorship5 Stars! ***** RIVETING PAGE-TURNER! Straight Up by Matt NunesPut up a pot of your best coffee, settle in for the night and get ready for the most exciting action thriller I've read in a long while.Take your coffee black, with one sugar, and settle in for nonstop action. You'll enjoy ups and downs that beat the best first roller coaster ride you had as a kid. The more you get into it, the faster you'll read. Keep the coffee coming and watch as the myriad cast of characters weave their way through the seamless plot.I enjoyed the pacing, settings and realistic dialogue. Nunes takes you up, down, all around just like the proverbial roller coaster then drops you plummeting down the rabbit hole of painstaking thoroughness when it comes to messing up accounts via a Cajun hacker or putting together a case against the villain, an incredibly distasteful Afrikaaner bigot, with a little help thanks to bartender and now bar owner Paul Costa's shrewd bartender's savvy with a top-secret twist.-Lois Crockett, Author of numerous books