"Exciting police procedural"
NYPD detective Conrad Voort is one of the richest men in
the police department, his family escutcheon going back to
the Revolutionary War. Conrad's biggest worry is his
cousin's widow Julia is living in his posh townhouse while
she's looking for another place to live. She would like
nothing better than to replace Camilla in his bed and life. Conrad and his partner Mickie are escorted to a homicide
scene to explain what the killer means when he writes in a
note that Voort screwed up. The victim is a former
prostitute turned travel agent and the killer says there
are going to be three more victims by midnight. Voort
takes a lie detector test and wears an electronic bracelet
to remain on the case. With each death, more is revealed
about the killer's motives which is centered on a mistake
Voort made six years ago. The protagonist is a good man, a great police officer who
has to live with the fact that one mistake six years ago
led to the killing spree of a murderer who only wants
justice for himself, his family and even his city. While
working on the case, the hero is under constant pressure
because he realizes he will probably lose his job after
killer is caught. The killer elicits reader sympathy
because the people he is murdering are the true villains
who were never brought to any kind of justice. DEAD FOR
LIFE is an exciting police procedural that will keep reader
attention from first page to last. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted May 16, 2003
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THE BIRTHDAY GIFT IS A DEAD STRANGER. THE CARD
READS, "THREE MORE BY TONIGHT. YOUR FAULT." FOR DETECTIVE
CONRAD VOORT, WHAT BEGINS AS A DAY OF CELEBRATION TURNS
INTO A NIGHTMARE, AS HE TRIES TO STOP A KILLER AND FIGURE
OUT IF HE COULD SOMEHOW BE RESPONSIBLE FOR A SERIES OF
DEATHS. In the thrilling, fast-paced, and haunting Dead for Life,
Voort finds himself in a deadly race against time to stop
an ingenious and unsettlingly sympathetic murderer who is
intent on carrying out his threat, and who has created a
state of near panic throughout Manhattan. What at first
seems to be a series of random killings soon takes on a
diabolical pattern. Murderer Wendell Nye is a man on a
mission, and as his bloody endeavor unfolds it becomes
clear that this is not merely the senseless act of some
criminal mind, but the impassioned vengeance of a man who
has suffered loss beyond endurance. Voort and the killer
must reinvent themselves in this life-and-death struggle,
battle the past, and become smarter, braver, and more
daring -- all by tonight. Since he first introduced the charismatic Conrad Voort in
The Broken Hearts Club, critically acclaimed novelist Ethan
Black has continued to shape the multifaceted detective
into one of the most true-to-life and emotionally complex
protagonists in contemporary suspense fiction. Voort's
family members have been police officers in New York since
the Dutch settled it. He has trained to be a detective
since childhood, and he's head of a vast Voort cop clan.
His code of honor dictates that on this day he may have to
take himself down. Drawing the reader ever more deeply into the minds and
hearts of two unforgettable men pitted against each other,
Dead for Life hurtles toward a shattering climax that will
make it apparent that few things are what they seem. The
price for past mistakes may be nothing less than life
itself.
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