The List
-
-
4.6 • 10 Ratings
-
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
In the vein of David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben—this is Steve Berry like you’ve never read him before.
After a ten-year self-imposed exile, Brent Walker is returning home to Concord, a quaint town in central Georgia nestled close to the Savannah River. Two years ago, his father died, and now Brent, hired by Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company as its assistant general counsel, is returning to care for his ailing mother.
For decades, Southern Republic has invested heavily in Concord, creating a thriving community where its employees live, work, and retire. But the genteel sheen of this quiet town is deceiving, and when a list of cryptic code surfaces, Brent starts to see the cracks.
Southern Republic’s success is based largely on a highly unorthodox and deadly system to control costs, known only to the three owners of the company. Now, one of them, Christopher Bozin, has had a change of heart. Brent’s return to Concord, a move Bozin personally orchestrated, provides his conscience with a chance at redemption. So a plan is set into motion, one that will not only criminally implicate Bozin’s two partners, but also place Brent Walker square in the crosshairs of men who want him dead—with only one course left available.
Find and reveal the shocking secret of the list.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The tepid latest standalone from bestseller Berry (after The Atlas Maneuver) is a paint-by-numbers legal thriller. Attorney Brent Walker has returned to Concord, Ga., to work as assistant general counsel for Southern Republic, the paper manufacturer where his late father worked as a machinist. What Walker doesn't know is that Southern Republic's three partners have spent years limiting expenses by hiring hit men to assassinate employees who run up sizable medical expenses on the company's insurance policies—and Walker's father was one such victim. Things take a turn when Hank Reed, head of the union representing most Southern Republic workers, stumbles across a coded document while preparing for a round of labor negotiations. He brings the code to Walker, who cracks it, revealing the Social Security numbers of the company's victims and setting him on a path to unraveling the scheme with help from one of Southern Republic's guilt-ridden partners. Far-fetched contrivances and a lack of surprises mar this from the get-go. Even the author's devoted fans are likely to find this rough going.
