Book ~ "Blood Drama" (2013) Christopher Meeks

From Goodreads ~ Everyone has a bad day. 

Graduate student Ian Nash has lost his girlfriend in addition to being dropped from a Ph.D. program in theatre at a Southern California university. When he stops at a local coffee shop in the lobby of a bank to apply for a job, the proverbial organic matter hits the fan. A gang of four robs the bank, and things get bloody. Ian is taken hostage by the robbers when the police show up. Now he has to save his life. 

FBI Special Agent Aleece Medina's analysis of the bloody bank heist drives her into the pursuit of a robbery gang headed by two women. She doesn’t anticipate how this robbery will pit her against both the bandits and the male higher-ups in the FBI while the media heats up during a giant manhunt. The robbers are about to kill Ian and all he has at hand is his knowledge of the stage.

Ian is a loser ... he's 29, he's recently lost his girlfriend, he's been kicked out of his doctorate program, he doesn't have a good relationship with is parents, he has no friends, he doesn't have a job and he has no money.  The last two things lead him to apply for a job in a coffee shop that is in a bank.  As he is completing the job application, there is a robbery in the bank, two customers are killed and Ian is taken hostage.  Not a good day!

Aleece Medina is the FBI agent in charge of this case.  When Ian escapes, he wants to work with Medina to get the bank robbers which goes against FBI policy.  In addition, not only does she have to solve this case but she also has pressure from above to be removed from it because she is a woman.

This is the first book I read by this author and I liked it.  It was an interesting storyline following Medina as she figures out who the bank robbers are and why robbed the bank.

I liked the writing style ... I thought it flowed well.  The book is written in third person with a focus on Medina and Ian.  As a head's up, the language is for mature readers.

There were a lot of references to David Mamet, is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director ... I didn't know who he was and had to look him up and still didn't understand the many references.  I guess if you are fan of Mamet's you'd get it.  The author is a playwright and that comes through in this story.

Ian and Medina are the main characters and I liked them.  Medina is good at what she does, though it has come with a cost of losing her balance in her life.  Ian is searching for himself and as I said, a loser.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.