The Grudge — Bert Hitchens

This crime novel from the authors of The Man Who Followed Women features two Los Angeles railroad detectives and explosive suspense.
 
Tommy Collins has escaped from a midwestern prison, using dynamite to blast his way out -- and killing a nurse in the process. The explosion was felt over a thousand miles away, where Tommy's sister lives in fear in Los Angeles. She has squirreled her mother and younger sister away, afraid Tommy will come after them for turning him in to the cops.
 
Aftershocks also shake the LA office of railroad detectives Chuck Reeves and veteran John Farrel when some remote railway yards become the targets of mysterious detonations. Connections are made, and the detectives quickly realize Tommy holds a violent grudge against the railroad for firing him from his job. And with nothing to lose, his rampage is getting worse the closer he gets to his desperate family . . .
 
“Almost unbearable suspense . . . Holds the reader to the last punctuation mark.” -- Greensboro News & Record