Skip Tracy

When his estranged uncle Ned "Rooster" Tracy is critically injured while pursuing fugitive financier Maxwell Stone, law student James "Skip" Tracy reluctantly abandons his studies to take over the family's struggling bounty hunting business. Determined to save both the family farm and cover his uncle's mounting medical bills, Skip faces immediate resistance from his rough-around-the-edges cousins, Rabbit and Bull. What begins as a simple fugitive hunt quickly escalates when Skip discovers the pursuit of Stone—dubbed "D.B. Cooper Squared" for his elusive nature—leads straight to the highest corridors of power. The chase transforms into a deadly game of cat and mouse with ruthless private contractors led by the merciless Hauser, who are clearly working for powerful political interests desperate to keep Stone's secrets buried. Skip, who always struggled to find meaning in his law classes despite working two jobs to stay afloat, now finds himself thrown into the deep end of real-world justice. His affluent girlfriend Amber urges him to return to school and their planned future clerking for a prominent judge, but Skip can't abandon his family in their time of need. At his uncle's bail bonds office, Skip meets Naomi—Rooster's wild, motorcycle-riding partner and an accomplished bounty hunter in her own right. As Amber returns to law school alone, Skip stays behind, developing complicated feelings for Naomi while she gives him a crash course in the art of bounty hunting. Together, they track down small-time bail jumpers to keep the business afloat, all while searching for clues to Stone's whereabouts. Despite his initial reluctance, Skip discovers he has a natural talent for bounty hunting, though tensions with his cousins remain high. When they finally uncover a lead on Stone's location, Skip agrees to an audacious plan—impersonating a black hat hacker whom Stone had hired to decrypt sensitive files from the president's son's laptop. The scheme spirals out of control when U.S. Marshal Sam Nero and rival bounty hunters crash the meeting, triggering a chaotic shootout. In the aftermath, Bull commandeers a plane for their escape, only to be forced down by Hauser's high-tech drones. When Naomi vanishes with Stone, Skip fears she may have betrayed them for a hefty payoff. Now Skip must race to Mexico to find Naomi before Hauser's black ops team eliminates them both. Meanwhile, Amber uncovers a conspiracy involving a corrupt judge and Rooster's bondsman partner, making herself a target and raising the stakes even higher. With nothing but his wits, newfound skills, and reluctant family allies, Skip must save Naomi, protect Amber, bring in Stone, and expose the conspiracy before it's too late. He has the name, now he's in the game. SKIP TRACY... The legend begins. Copyright 2024 by Brefni O'Rourke. All Rights Reserved. ***************The REVIEWS are in on SKIP TRACY************************ "What's working well: - Interesting main characters with intriguing backstories and relationships (the Tracy family of bounty hunters) - Good pacing and action sequences - An engaging mystery around Maxwell Stone and the missing laptop files - Fun side characters like Naomi, Sheila, and Nero..." ********* "From the get-go, I liked the title. It’s why I selected it initially, among about a dozen other scripts looking for notes. I thought, “yeah, I know what this is going to be heading” before I even double-clicked. So, great start. It’s a bit playful yet direct and helps your reader get located in the story world immediately before they’ve even hit the logline, setting up both our basic expectations and recalling comps as far back as Skip Tracer (1977), The Hunter (1980), Repo Man (1984), Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), and Midnight Run (1988)—I think I’m missing a few Eastwood films in the mix. Personally speaking, I find it to be a fun sub-genre of the crime film or police drama, and absolutely worth pursuing. I think this is a great space (genre and narrative-wise) to explore and is ripe for working in. What’s less in evidence from the title is some of the Jame- Bond, Mission-Impossible, Bourne elements—and the larger fantastical or dare I say fantasy elements of the script. That’s not a criticism but an observation... I like the plotting... I think you’ve done a really nice job of incorporating set pieces (the rail sequence, apartment complex, the airfield/ airplane sequences, and the farm house ending... Some of the strengths of each of these sequences is that they build nicely, complication arise, the challenges get harder just as we hope or think they might get easier and the endings or transitions may surprise us. The introduction of the drones is both novel and adds to the sense of tension and an inescapable threat. All in all, we don’t get too much time to think or, more importantly, catch our breath during these sequences—they’re largely relentless—and perfectly in keeping with some of the best qualities of the genre. Additionally, beyond the creative tech and mayhem, there’s an underlying sense of humour or perhaps it’s better described of a sense of adventure that colours the commitment of the Zoo Crew—Rooster, Bull and Rabbit (later supplemented by Skip and Naomi)—in their efforts. The actions aren’t undertaken out of fear or reservation, but with a sense of duty to each other and honour in the context of the work and meaning of the long tradition of bounty hunting. For me, the importance of this tone is two-fold: we gain a sense of the closeness of the characters to one another, and we gain a sense of the commitment that they bring to what we understand to be more of a vocation than a job or career.... The characters—and particularly the ensemble of bounty hunters—is another clear strength in the script. For me, the greatest dialogue comes in the banter between these characters as they’re planning to execute or struggling to execute their plans. Rabbit (my view) probably gets the best lines and recalls, but across these characters, you’ve given them clear identities (and roles in their assignments), distinct-yet-shared language and terms, and they’re able to articulate bravado and bullshit in ways that make them endearing to the reader, when they get a chance to push the story forward... I think there’s been some really great work with the characters and the dialogue, specifically related to the team of bounty hunters... There's lots of great things here, most importantly a solid spine of a story and a compelling set of characters."