A. J. Quinnell, "Man on Fire"

An American soldier of fortune far from home – alcoholic, burnt out, and broken down – Creasy has accepted a job as a bodyguard just for something to do. An emotionally dead, one-time warrior, he knows that nothing can pierce the hard shell he's built around himself – until the little girl he's been hired to protect somehow breaks through. But having something to care about again in making Creasy vulnerable. And when the unthinkable occurs, a man on fire won't just burn … he'll explode.