Product Description

True evil has a face you know and a voice you trust....

A Southern doctor is pulled into a terrifying ring of murderous secrets -- in this powerhouse thriller from New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles

Dr. Chris Shepard has never seen his new patient before. But the attractive young woman with the scarred face knows him all too well. An FBI agent working undercover, Alex Morse has come to Dr. Shepard's office in Natchez, Mississippi, to unmask a killer. A local divorce attorney has a cluster of clients whose spouses have all died under mysterious circumstances. Agent Morse's own brother-in-law was one of those clients, and now her beloved sister is dead. Then comes Morse's bombshell: Dr. Shepard's own beautiful wife consulted this lawyer one week ago, a visit Shepard knew nothing about. Will he help Alex Morse catch a killer? Or is he the next one to fall victim to a deadly trap of sex, lies, and murder?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14602 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-25
• Released on: 2007-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Smooth prose, psychological depth and crafty plotting lift bestseller Iles's latest suspense thriller, which puts a fresh twist on a familiar theme-the cat-and-mouse game between an FBI agent and a fiendishly-clever serial killer. One personal tragedy after another has struck Alexandra Morse, a rising star in the FBI who specializes in hostage negotiation: her father's shooting death in a robbery, her mother's diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer, and a misstep on the job that left her face scarred and a fellow agent dead. Now Alex's sister, Grace, lies dying in a Jackson, Miss., hospital after suffering a stroke. Alex arrives from Washington just in time to hear Grace say that her husband has murdered her. After Grace's death, Alex learns that Dr. Eldon Tarver, a brilliant scientist in need of funds for research into developing a biological superweapon, has teamed with a Mississippi divorce attorney who offers select clients the opportunity to avoid a protracted court fight by arranging for their spouses to die. When Alex identifies the next intended victim, Dr. Chris Shepard, she goes undercover as one of the idealistic doctor's patients and soon finds herself in a race against Tarver as well as her own superiors, who have not sanctioned her investigation. This pulse-pounder is sure to be another bestseller for Iles (Turning Angel).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
As FBI Special Agent Alexandra Morse's sister lies dying in the hospital, she whispers that she has been attacked and that her husband is responsible. Alex's investigations lead to a handful of suspicious deaths, all tied to one divorce lawyer. By staking out his office, she identifies the killer's next victim, Dr. Chris Shepard. Together Alex and the doctor try to unravel the multilayered scheme that has been set into motion. Dick Hill delivers a dramatic performance with voices that both menace and soothe. There is little relief from the tension and drama, and Hill's performance compels listeners through it. S.S.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The new novel by the author of, among others, Mortal Fear (1996), 24 Hours (2000), and (most recently) Turning Angel (2005)begins with a big surprise. Dr. Chris Shepard, a doctor in Natchez, Mississippi (where the author lives), is visited by an FBI agent who tells him two things: a local divorce lawyer has a series of clients whose spouses have all died suspiciously, and Dr. Shepard's wife paid this lawyer a visit about a week ago. Now agent Alex Morse wants Dr. Shepard to help her trap a killer. If Iles has a trademark, a single literary feature that identifies him, it's his intriguing, ordinary-people-in-extraordinary-situations premises that hook readers immediately, forcing us to read on. How will Chris Shepard, a successful doctor in a seemingly happy marriage, react to the news that his wife may be planning to have him killed? Will Alex Morse, the deeply troubled FBI agent (she's still recovering from her own brush with death), confuse professional responsibility with personal interest? Before you know it, you've reached the last page, and you're all out of breath--but you've had one hell of a ride. Plot-driven is too often used as a pejorative term; Iles shows the other side. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Impressive Author
This is the second of Iles' novels that I read, the first being The Quiet Game, which set the standard high. While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as The Quiet Game I cannot deny that it's a great story. It seemed as though it took awhile for the tension to build but once it did, it didn't let off until the end. And one has to appreciate the amount of research that the author must have invested to tell such a detailed and gripping medical accounts.

I think it safe to say that anyone who enjoys reading fiction will appreciate this novel.

Incredible ... Needs 6 or 7 stars !!!
I am very partcular when it comes to thrillers and mysteries. I don't like my time wasted on ho-hum plots. THIS ONE KNOCKED MY SOCKS OFF !!! I couldn't put it down. I read the whole thing in 2 days. When the FBI agent was being reprimanded by her bosses and almost fired I had to keep reminding myself it was only fiction. I had to take a Pepsid because I had heartburn so badly. I felt like she was a member of my family getting unjustly accused. I have told at least 10 people to buy this book. Iles is a master-story teller.

seeing what's true
It's interesting to spend time with characters who know more than simply how to destroy and how to hurt. True Evil assembles a group of professionals who know a lot and let their knowledge influence how they think and what they notice. Even the "bad guys" use their intelligence and apply their commonsense. Serial killers are so often thought of as damaged in some way, even insane. But when that isn't true, ordinary doubts turn into nightmare fears and normally reasonable distrust drives every thought and feeling to a desperate extreme. Iles doesn't keep you guessing, he keeps you horrified.