The Guise of Another
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4.1 • 15 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Who was James Putnam? Answering that question may mean salvation for Alexander Rupert, a Minnesota detective whose life is in a serious downward spiral. A Medal of Valor winner, Alexander is now under subpoena by a grand jury on suspicion of corruption. He’s been reassigned to the Frauds Unit, where he is shunned by his fellow detectives, and he fears his status-seeking wife may be having an affair. When he happens across a complex case of identity theft, Alexander sees an opportunity to rehabilitate his tattered reputation. But the case explodes into far more than he could have expected, putting him in the path of trained assassin Drago Basta, a veteran of the Balkan wars who has been searching for “James Putnam” for years. As his life spins out of control, Alexander’s last hope may be his older brother, Max, a fellow police detective who steps in to try to save his brother from the carnage his investigation has let loose. From the Trade Paperback edition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-finalist Eskens follows his highly praised debut, The Life We Bury (2014), with an equally compelling second novel starring Alexander Rupert, a disgraced Minneapolis police detective. Toiling away in the fraud unit while a grand jury investigates charges that he stole drug money, Rupert happens upon a case that he believes could return him to the department's good graces: a man who faked his death 15 years earlier in a boat accident off Coney Island has just died for real in a Minnesota car crash. Rupert wants to know who James Putnam really was and why he staged the coverup. While his own life continues to spiral toward the drain, Rupert finds himself increasingly attracted to Putnam's former live-in girlfriend, a temptress with elusive motivations. Eskens moves his plot along in a spare, sure-handed manner, avoiding clich s and stock situations. Elevating the story further are several unexpected turns down the homestretch, as well as several well-crafted characters who serve as examples of how good people can succumb to weakness. Readers looking for a new voice should pay attention to Eskens.
