Editorial Content for The Night Swim
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Megan Goldin burst onto the mystery/thriller scene in 2019 with THE ESCAPE ROOM, a compulsively readable thriller about unlikable executives trapped in an “escape room”-like crime scene. Her highly anticipated third novel, THE NIGHT SWIM, is a timely and propulsive mystery about two young girls. Read More
Teaser
The new season of Rachel Krall's true-crime podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation --- but she keeps receiving mysterious letters. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases --- and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
Promo
The new season of Rachel Krall's true-crime podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation --- but she keeps receiving mysterious letters. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases --- and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
About the Book
In THE NIGHT SWIM, a new thriller from Megan Goldin, author of the “gripping and unforgettable” (Harlen Coben) THE ESCAPE ROOM, a true-crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town’s dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before.
Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name --- and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.
The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation --- but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister 25 years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered --- and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases --- and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
Electrifying and propulsive, THE NIGHT SWIM asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?
Audiobook available; read by Bailey Carr, January LaVoy and Samantha Desz
Editorial Content for A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricane
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In A FURIOUS SKY, bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin explores hurricanes --- that complex confluence of sky, sea, wind and land that causes so many disasters, costs so much money and so many lives, and remains unpredictable and unpreventable. Read More
Teaser
Hurricanes menace North America from June through November every year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm, yet too often we treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles, unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As bestselling historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation’s past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of the future. With A FURIOUS SKY, Dolin has created a sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus’ New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria.
Promo
Hurricanes menace North America from June through November every year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm, yet too often we treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles, unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As bestselling historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation’s past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of the future. With A FURIOUS SKY, Dolin has created a sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus’ New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria.
About the Book
With A FURIOUS SKY, bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin tells the history of America itself through its 500-year battle with the fury of hurricanes.
Hurricanes menace North America from June through November every year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm, yet we too often treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles, unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As bestselling historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation’s past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of the future.
With A FURIOUS SKY, Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus’ New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, such as Benito Vines, a 19th-century Jesuit priest whose innovative methods for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives, and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history.
Dolin draws on a vast array of sources as he melds American history, as it is usually told, with the history of hurricanes, showing how these tempests frequently helped determine the nation’s course. Hurricanes, it turns out, prevented Spain from expanding its holdings in North America beyond Florida in the late 1500s, and they also played a key role in shifting the tide of the American Revolution against the British in the final stages of the conflict. As he moves through the centuries, following the rise of the United States despite the chaos caused by hurricanes, Dolin traces the corresponding development of hurricane science, from important discoveries made by Benjamin Franklin to the breakthroughs spurred by the necessities of the World War II and the Cold War.
Yet after centuries of study and despite remarkable leaps in scientific knowledge and technological prowess, there are still limits on our ability to predict exactly when and where hurricanes will strike, and we remain terribly vulnerable to the greatest storms on earth. A FURIOUS SKY is, ultimately, a story of a changing climate, and it forces us to reckon with the reality that as bad as the past has been, the future will probably be worse, unless we drastically reimagine our relationship with the planet.
Editorial Content for Afterland
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Feminist dystopian novels have previously offered up tales in which men disappear due to some catastrophe or transformation. And, of course, pandemic literature has featured altered sociocultural and geographic landscapes many times before. Lauren Beukes combines these two tropes in her timely and readable new novel, AFTERLAND, where a virus, known as HCV, wipes out most males around the world, shifts the culture of the U.S. and creates a set of dangerous circumstances for her three characters. Read More
Teaser
Twelve-year-old Miles is one of the last boys alive, and his mother, Cole, will protect him at all costs. On the run after a horrific act of violence --- and pursued by Cole's own ruthless sister, Billie --- all Cole wants is to raise her kid somewhere he won't be preyed on as a reproductive resource or a sex object or a stand-in son. Someplace like home. To get there, Cole and Miles must journey across a changed America in disguise as mother and daughter. From a military base in Seattle to a luxury bunker, from an anarchist commune in Salt Lake City to a roaming cult that's all too ready to see Miles as the answer to their prayers, the two race to stay ahead at every step…even as Billie and her sinister crew draw closer.
Promo
Twelve-year-old Miles is one of the last boys alive, and his mother, Cole, will protect him at all costs. On the run after a horrific act of violence --- and pursued by Cole's own ruthless sister, Billie --- all Cole wants is to raise her kid somewhere he won't be preyed on as a reproductive resource or a sex object or a stand-in son. Someplace like home. To get there, Cole and Miles must journey across a changed America in disguise as mother and daughter. From a military base in Seattle to a luxury bunker, from an anarchist commune in Salt Lake City to a roaming cult that's all too ready to see Miles as the answer to their prayers, the two race to stay ahead at every step…even as Billie and her sinister crew draw closer.
About the Book
CHILDREN OF MEN meets THE HANDMAID'S TALE in this "smartly written" and "splendid" thriller about how far a mother will go to protect her son from a hostile world transformed by the absence of men (Stephen King).
Most of the men are dead. Three years after the pandemic known as The Manfall, governments still hold and life continues -- but a world run by women isn't always a better place.
Twelve-year-old Miles is one of the last boys alive, and his mother, Cole, will protect him at all costs. On the run after a horrific act of violence-and pursued by Cole's own ruthless sister, Billie --- all Cole wants is to raise her kid somewhere he won't be preyed on as a reproductive resource or a sex object or a stand-in son. Someplace like home.
To get there, Cole and Miles must journey across a changed America in disguise as mother and daughter. From a military base in Seattle to a luxury bunker, from an anarchist commune in Salt Lake City to a roaming cult that's all too ready to see Miles as the answer to their prayers, the two race to stay ahead at every step...even as Billie and her sinister crew draw closer.
A sharply feminist, high-stakes thriller from award-winning author Lauren Beukes, AFTERLAND brilliantly blends psychological suspense, American noir and science fiction into an adventure all its own --- and perfect for our times.
Audiobook available, read by Bianca Amato
Editorial Content for Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Evolution
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
THE BOURNE EVOLUTION, the latest entry in the Jason Bourne saga, opens with two incidents that are eerily close to both recent and current events. The first is a mass shooting that takes place in Las Vegas, very similar to the tragedy that occurred there during the country music concert back in 2017. In the novel, it is an antique car show and goes down as the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Sixty-six individuals are reported dead, but that number may actually be 67. We will return to this discrepancy later. Read More
Teaser
After the death of his lover in a mass shooting, secret agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that Treadstone --- the agency that made him who he is, that trained him --- is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa. But when a congresswoman is assassinated in New York, Bourne is framed for the crime, and he finds himself alone and on the run. In his quest to stay one step ahead of his enemies, Bourne teams up with journalist Abbey Laurent to figure out who was behind the frame-up, and to learn as much as he can about the ever-growing threat of the mysterious Medusa group.
Promo
After the death of his lover in a mass shooting, secret agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that Treadstone --- the agency that made him who he is, that trained him --- is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa. But when a congresswoman is assassinated in New York, Bourne is framed for the crime, and he finds himself alone and on the run. In his quest to stay one step ahead of his enemies, Bourne teams up with journalist Abbey Laurent to figure out who was behind the frame-up, and to learn as much as he can about the ever-growing threat of the mysterious Medusa group.
About the Book
America's most enduring hero, Jason Bourne, returns in a propulsive, fresh story for the Bourne canon that tests old skills --- and uncovers new ones.
After the death of his lover in a mass shooting, secret agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that Treadstone --- the agency that made him who he is, that trained him --- is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa.
But when a congresswoman is assassinated in New York, Bourne is framed for the crime, and he finds himself alone and on the run, hunted by both Treadstone and the tech cabal that had hired him. In his quest to stay one step ahead of his enemies, Bourne teams up with a journalist, Abbey Laurent, to figure out who was behind the frame-up, and to learn as much as he can about the ever-growing threat of the mysterious Medusa group.
As more and more enemies begin to hunt Bourne, it's a race against the clock to discover who led him into a trap...and what their next move may be.
Audiobook available, read by Scott Brick
Editorial Content for The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Bryn Turnbull’s debut novel tells the tale of Thelma Morgan’s storied life. Thelma is the woman who was involved with Prince Edward before he took up with Wallis Simpson and made history by abdicating his throne for her. She also introduced Wallis to Edward, which ultimately changed the path of the British monarchy. Read More
Teaser
In the summer of 1926, when Thelma Morgan marries Viscount Duke Furness after a whirlwind romance, she’s immersed in a gilded world of extraordinary wealth and privilege. For Thelma, the daughter of an American diplomat, her new life as a member of the British aristocracy is like a fairy tale --- even more so when her husband introduces her to Edward, Prince of Wales. In a twist of fate, her marriage to Duke leads her to fall headlong into a love affair with Edward. But happiness is fleeting, and their love is threatened when Thelma’s sister, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, becomes embroiled in a scandal with far-reaching implications. As Thelma sails to New York to support Gloria, she leaves Edward in the hands of her trusted friend Wallis, never imagining the consequences that will follow.
Promo
In the summer of 1926, when Thelma Morgan marries Viscount Duke Furness after a whirlwind romance, she’s immersed in a gilded world of extraordinary wealth and privilege. For Thelma, the daughter of an American diplomat, her new life as a member of the British aristocracy is like a fairy tale --- even more so when her husband introduces her to Edward, Prince of Wales. In a twist of fate, her marriage to Duke leads her to fall headlong into a love affair with Edward. But happiness is fleeting, and their love is threatened when Thelma’s sister, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, becomes embroiled in a scandal with far-reaching implications. As Thelma sails to New York to support Gloria, she leaves Edward in the hands of her trusted friend Wallis, never imagining the consequences that will follow.
About the Book
For fans of THE PARIS WIFE and "The Crown," this stunning novel tells the true story of the American divorcée who captured Prince Edward’s heart before he abdicated his throne for Wallis Simpson.
In the summer of 1926, when Thelma Morgan marries Viscount Duke Furness after a whirlwind romance, she’s immersed in a gilded world of extraordinary wealth and privilege. For Thelma, the daughter of an American diplomat, her new life as a member of the British aristocracy is like a fairy tale --- even more so when her husband introduces her to Edward, Prince of Wales.
In a twist of fate, her marriage to Duke leads her to fall headlong into a love affair with Edward. But happiness is fleeting, and their love is threatened when Thelma’s sister, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, becomes embroiled in a scandal with far-reaching implications. As Thelma sails to New York to support Gloria, she leaves Edward in the hands of her trusted friend Wallis, never imagining the consequences that will follow.
Bryn Turnbull takes readers from the raucous glamour of the Paris Ritz and the French Riviera to the quiet, private corners of St. James’s Palace in this sweeping story of love, loyalty and betrayal.
Audiobook available, read by Mary Jane Wells
Editorial Content for The Eighth Detective
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Having a fairly good idea of what to expect when I pick up a book written by one of my favorite authors, I am rarely disappointed in where it takes me. Read More
Teaser
There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out, publishing seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate the rules of murder. But that was 30 years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island --- until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished, and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realize that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues seem to reference a real murder --- one that's remained unsolved for 30 years. If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary.
Promo
There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out, publishing seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate the rules of murder. But that was 30 years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island --- until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished, and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realize that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues seem to reference a real murder --- one that's remained unsolved for 30 years. If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary.
About the Book
There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective.
Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out, publishing seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate the rules of murder. But that was 30 years ago. Now he's living a life of seclusion on a quiet Mediterranean island --- until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished, and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. An author, hiding from his past, and an editor, keen to understand it.
But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realize that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues seem to reference a real murder --- one that's remained unsolved for 30 years.
If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary.
Alex Pavesi's THE EIGHTH DETECTIVE is a love letter to classic detective stories with a modern twist, where nothing is as it seems, and proof that the best mysteries break all the rules.
Audiobook available, read by Emilia Fox
Editorial Content for Love and Theft
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
It has been six years since the publication of Stan Parish’s DOWN THE SHORE, a mixed-genre novel much beloved by everyone who read it. LOVE AND THEFT, his sophomore work, is here at last --- and if he has been lingering over it, his effort certainly shows. This is one of the best novels of the year thus far, worthy of your time, money and undivided attention. Read More
Teaser
When Alex Cassidy and Diane Alison meet at a party in Princeton, New Jersey, the chemistry between them is instant and undeniable. She's a single mother, local fixture and owner of a successful catering company. He's a single father and weekend homeowner --- and leader of an armed-robbery crew that just pulled off a record-breaking, precision jewel heist in Las Vegas. Neither one realizes that their lives have overlapped before, and that the shared history they uncover will threaten everyone they love.
Swept up in their burgeoning relationship, Diane joins Alex at his beach house in Tulum, where Alex decides to leave his life of crime behind. It begins as a postcard-perfect weekend until an entanglement with a powerful cartel forces Alex to mastermind one final and unthinkably dangerous job.
Promo
When Alex Cassidy and Diane Alison meet at a party in Princeton, New Jersey, the chemistry between them is instant and undeniable. She's a single mother, local fixture and owner of a successful catering company. He's a single father and weekend homeowner --- and leader of an armed-robbery crew that just pulled off a record-breaking, precision jewel heist in Las Vegas. Neither one realizes that their lives have overlapped before, and that the shared history they uncover will threaten everyone they love. Swept up in their burgeoning relationship, Diane joins Alex at his beach house in Tulum, where Alex decides to leave his life of crime behind. It begins as a postcard-perfect weekend until an entanglement with a powerful cartel forces Alex to mastermind one final and unthinkably dangerous job.
About the Book
An epic Vegas heist.
A high-octane international romance.
A charismatic thief forced to orchestrate one final, treacherous job to save his family.
When Alex Cassidy and Diane Alison meet at a party in Princeton, New Jersey, the chemistry between them is instant and undeniable. She's a single mother, local fixture and owner of a successful catering company. He's a single father and weekend homeowner --- and leader of an armed-robbery crew that just pulled off a record-breaking, precision jewel heist in Las Vegas. Neither one realizes that their lives have overlapped before, and that the shared history they uncover will threaten everyone they love.
Swept up in their burgeoning relationship, Diane joins Alex at his beach house in Tulum, where Alex decides to leave his life of crime behind. It begins as a postcard-perfect weekend until an entanglement with a powerful cartel forces Alex to mastermind one final and unthinkably dangerous job. What ensues is an explosive, adrenaline-soaked journey through the moneyed landscapes of Mexico and Europe, where ghosts from the past collide with unexpected perils in the present. As Alex and Diane fight for their lives, they discover that they're not the only ones with secrets --- and that those closest to us pose the greatest danger of all.
Propulsive, deeply suspenseful and layered with mesmerizing twists, LOVE AND THEFT is a sophisticated thriller about the illusion of control and the high price of past transgressions.
Audiobook available, read by Angelo Di Loreto
Editorial Content for Dead West
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Matt Goldman is not a household name yet, but he has been steadily building a reputation over the past several years as a solid and respectable author on the strength of his Nils Shapiro series. Read More
Teaser
Nils Shapiro accepts what appears to be an easy, lucrative job: find out if Beverly Mayer’s grandson is foolishly throwing away his trust fund in Hollywood, especially now, in the wake of his fiancée’s tragic death. However, that easy job becomes much more complicated once Nils arrives in Los Angeles. He quickly suspects that Ebben Mayer’s fiancée was murdered, and that Ebben himself may have been the target. As Nils moves into Ebben’s inner circle, he discovers that everyone in Ebben’s professional life seems to have dubious motives at best. With Nils' friend Jameson White, who has come to Los Angeles to deal with demons of his own, acting as Ebben’s bodyguard, Nils sets out to find a killer before it’s too late.
Promo
Nils Shapiro accepts what appears to be an easy, lucrative job: find out if Beverly Mayer’s grandson is foolishly throwing away his trust fund in Hollywood, especially now, in the wake of his fiancée’s tragic death. However, that easy job becomes much more complicated once Nils arrives in Los Angeles. He quickly suspects that Ebben Mayer’s fiancée was murdered, and that Ebben himself may have been the target. As Nils moves into Ebben’s inner circle, he discovers that everyone in Ebben’s professional life seems to have dubious motives at best. With Nils' friend Jameson White, who has come to Los Angeles to deal with demons of his own, acting as Ebben’s bodyguard, Nils sets out to find a killer before it’s too late.
About the Book
In the words of Lee Child on GONE TO DUST, “I want more of Nils Shapiro.” New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award-winning author Matt Goldman happily obliges by bringing the Minneapolis private detective back for another thrilling, stand-alone adventure in DEAD WEST.
Nils Shapiro accepts what appears to be an easy, lucrative job: find out if Beverly Mayer’s grandson is foolishly throwing away his trust fund in Hollywood, especially now, in the wake of his fiancée’s tragic death. However, that easy job becomes much more complicated once Nils arrives in Los Angeles, a disorienting place where the sunshine hides dark secrets.
Nils quickly suspects that Ebben Mayer’s fiancée was murdered, and that Ebben himself may have been the target. As Nils moves into Ebben’s inner circle, he discovers that everyone in Ebben’s professional life --- his agent, manager, a screenwriter, a producer --- seem to have dubious motives at best.
With Nils' friend Jameson White, who has come to Los Angeles to deal with demons of his own, acting as Ebben’s bodyguard, Nils sets out to find a killer before it’s too late.
Audiobook available, read by Bronson Pinchot
Editorial Content for Cry Baby: A Tom Thorne Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Mark Billingham notes in his acknowledgements to his 17th(!) Tom Thorne novel, which is set in the mid-1990s, that it is a historical work. To apply proper perspective, that time is (relatively) early in Thorne’s career, predating the events that are recounted in SLEEPYHEAD, the opening installment in the series, and 10 years after his first important --- and heartbreaking --- case. Billingham has demonstrated from the start of his literary career that he is incapable of writing badly, but CRY BABY is a cut or two above the pack, one of the best of his worthy efforts thus far. Read More
Teaser
In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on a case that quickly spirals out of control when two people connected with the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage.
Promo
In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on a case that quickly spirals out of control when two people connected with the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage.
About the Book
The latest thriller from internationally bestselling author Mark Billingham takes us back to the origins of Tom Thorne.
In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on a case that quickly spirals out of control when two people connected with the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage.
A prequel to Billingham’s acclaimed debut SLEEPYHEAD --- which the Times voted “one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade” --- this compelling novel highlights the case that shaped the career of one of British crime fiction’s most iconic characters.
Editorial Content for The Burden of Truth
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Neal Griffin's career in law enforcement spanned almost three decades, and he saw the best and worst on both sides of the blue line. His Newberg trilogy is highly prized and critically acclaimed. THE BURDEN OF TRUTH is set halfway across the country from Newberg, Wisconsin, in Vista, California. Nonetheless, it has some subtle ties to the series that play out over the course of a gritty, tragic and memorable story. Read More
Teaser
Eighteen-year-old Omar Ortega is about to graduate high school. For years, he’s danced on the fringes of gang life, trying desperately to stay out of the crosshairs. Once Omar joins the Army, his salary, plus his meager savings, will get his mother and siblings out of the barrio, where they’ve lived since his father was deported. One night, everything changes. Newly released from prison, Chunks, the gang’s shot-caller, has plans for Omar. That boy, Chunks thinks, needs to be jumped in. By dawn, Omar will be labeled a cop-killer. Law-and-order advocates and community organizers will battle over Omar’s fate in the court of public opinion, while the criminal justice system grips him in its teeth. One night can destroy a man and all who depend on him. That he’s innocent does not matter.
Promo
Eighteen-year-old Omar Ortega is about to graduate high school. For years, he’s danced on the fringes of gang life, trying desperately to stay out of the crosshairs. Once Omar joins the Army, his salary, plus his meager savings, will get his mother and siblings out of the barrio, where they’ve lived since his father was deported. One night, everything changes. Newly released from prison, Chunks, the gang’s shot-caller, has plans for Omar. That boy, Chunks thinks, needs to be jumped in. By dawn, Omar will be labeled a cop-killer. Law-and-order advocates and community organizers will battle over Omar’s fate in the court of public opinion, while the criminal justice system grips him in its teeth. One night can destroy a man and all who depend on him. That he’s innocent does not matter.
About the Book
As a serving police officer, Los Angeles Times bestselling author Neal Griffin saw how family ties, loyalty to friends and their own ambitions could lead young men to make choices that got them hurt, killed or imprisoned. He explores this complex web of relationships and pressures in THE BURDEN OF TRUTH.
In a small city in southern California, 18-year-old Omar Ortega is about to graduate high school. For years, he’s danced on the fringes of gang life, trying desperately to stay out of the crosshairs. Once Omar joins the Army, his salary, plus his meager savings, will get his mother and siblings out of the barrio, where they’ve lived since his father was deported.
One night, everything changes. Newly released from prison, Chunks, the gang’s shot-caller, has plans for Omar. That boy, Chunks thinks, needs to be jumped in.
By dawn, Omar will be labeled a cop-killer. Law-and-order advocates and community organizers will battle over Omar’s fate in the court of public opinion, while the criminal justice system grips him in its teeth.
One night can destroy a man and all who depend on him.
That he’s innocent does not matter.





