Four years ago, Gevan Dean fled his hometown for a peaceful life under the Florida sun after catching his fiancée, Niki, in the arms of his brother. But now Ken Dean is dead—murdered by a thief, the police say—and Gevan’s presence is desperately needed at the helm of the family business, where a classic power struggle between old guard and new blood appears to be unfolding. But everywhere he turns, Gevan finds only questions and confusion. The new production chief, a man who’s both feared and respected, harbors mysterious motives. A colonel from the Pentagon is supervising the company’s defense contracts. And Niki, a grieving widow, seems all too eager to pick up where they left off. But Gevan doesn’t suspect the truth behind Ken’s murder—until he’s caught in a complex web of corruption and intrigue too deadly to ignore.
Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz
Praise for John D. MacDonald
“The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King
“My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz
“To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut
“A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best.”—Mary Higgins Clark
Author
John D. MacDonald
John D. MacDonald was an American novelist and short-story writer. His works include the Travis McGee series and the novel The Executioners, which was adapted into the film Cape Fear. In 1962 MacDonald was named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America; in 1980, he won a National Book Award. In print he delighted in smashing the bad guys, deflating the pompous, and exposing the venal. In life, he was a truly empathetic man; his friends, family, and colleagues found him to be loyal, generous, and practical. In business, he was fastidiously ethical. About being a writer, he once expressed with gleeful astonishment, “They pay me to do this! They don’t realize, I would pay them.” He spent the later part of his life in Florida with his wife and son. He died in 1986.
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