Product Description

The nightmare began a year ago in Pennsylvania with the shocking death of a delivery driver, blown to pieces during an outrageous crime. And now the terror has spread from East Coast to West . . .

As body parts pile up throughout the L.A. area—the result of a devastating series of bank robberies—federal agencies see nothing but the random hand of a bomb-tossing lunatic. Rogue journalist Frank Corso, however, sees the tracks of something far more sinister—something with a motive and a message. But the closer Corso and research assistant Chris Andriatta come to a fiendishly audacious maniac, the clearer a blood-chilling truth appears in the harsh and glaring light:

The fuse to this explosive horror may have inadvertently been lit by Frank Corso himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #652794 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-01
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In the gritty sixth Frank Corso novel (after 2005's No Man's Land), Ford makes clever use of an actual 2003 unsolved case to create a pulse-pounding plot capped by a dramatic and chilling ending. Corso, an investigative journalist whose promising career was derailed by a scandal, is sent by his publisher to a small Pennsylvania town to solve an unusual cold case. In an attempted bank robbery, a seemingly innocuous local, who presented his demands for cash with a bomb strapped around his neck, died when the device exploded. Corso is uninterested in the assignment until his initial inquiries lead to attempts on his life. The case takes on a whole new dimension when similar crimes begin to occur on the West Coast, leading the federal authorities to take a keen interest in the reporter's discoveries. While the eventual revelation of the motive behind the crimes is a little disappointing, this doesn't detract from the overall impact of this well-written and paced thriller.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"'The best new novelist in his genre. The expression 'page turner' could have been invented for this book' New Books Magazine"

About the Author

G.M. Ford is the author of six widely praised Frank Corso novels, Fury, Black River, A Blind Eye, Red Tide, No Man's Land, and Blown Away, as well as six highly acclaimed mysteries featuring Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman. A former creative writing teacher in western Washington, Ford lives in Oregon and is currently working on his next novel.

Customer Reviews

Not worth reading
G.M. Ford has written some really fine Corso novels in the past (Fury and Red Tide) come to mind. This is the worst. I read suspense novels for a good read and a good ending. It's a typical writer's technique to end a chapter with suspense, begging the reader to keep going to find out what happens next and how the tension will be resolved. Ford and his publisher have apparently lost their collective minds by ending the book on such a note. As a reader he's lost me for good. There's too many good writers and good books out there to waste hours on a writer who's too gutless to deliver an ending.

Great Beginning...Insulting Ending
G.M.Ford`s latest Frank Corso novel left me shocked and resentful. After discovering this series a couple years ago, I have read all the Corso books. This one began with great promise as I wondered where Frank was going with his investigation and who might be behind the cover up and the violence directed at Corso. It was headed in an intriguing direction.

But the middle third of the book slows down into a procedural mainly noteworthy for the way Corso loses control of the direction of the investigation and becomes a spectator in an interagency taskforce. During this whole section of the book, all the interest generated by the opening of the book is not only lost...but not even pursued or revisited until the last 40 pages.

And without going into detail, the real "ending" occurs or should have occurred earlier in the Sacramento scene. The last 30 pages or so represent an extension of the plot that ultimately leads to one of the poorest, lamest, and personally unfulfilling endings I have ever read. As another reviewer stated on this book, I feel so strongly, I may never read another Ford novel---at the very least, I will never "trust" his perspective of his readers again.

HORRIBLE Ending!!! Insult To Readers.
If I were to give the ending the full review rating, it would be one star, but I decided on 2 since up to that point the book was an interesting read. There were some flaws with the characterizations and plotting, such as the behavior of the hero's associate and that of the town's residents, particularly the sheriff, but generally the plot and dialogue were fast-moving and held your interest.

The ending: SIMPLY HORRIBLE! The last scene/word left the reader totally hanging in a jaw-dropping way, and eliminated this as a stand-alone book - the 'cliffhanger,' necessarily resolved in another book, made it impossible for closure for those who would not read a sequel, and screwed those who would by having to wait a year or more to find out what happens. That is insulting to the readers, and totally unworthy of a good author. Shame.