Fugitive Red
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3.4 • 25 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Love on the Internet gone wrong
Reminiscent of Nick and Amy in Gone Girl, Jack and Maria have a tortuous history. Currently, they live in a claustrophobic Manhattan apartment with their eight-year-old son, Jonah. Jack has quit booze, but his music career ended abruptly, and he isn't doing much better as a real estate agent. Maria's doing well at her corporate job, but she travels frequently. While they both love their son, they don't seem to have much else in common and their sex life is nonexistent.
When a former band member tells Jack about a new extramarital dating app called Discreet Hookups, Jack quickly meets Sophia, who goes by the online name Fugitive Red. Jack and Sophia hit it off and have a steamy online affair. When Jack agrees to rendezvous with Sophia at her townhouse, he discovers her dead—strangled by a red necktie.
Immediately, Jack becomes a person of interest in the murder. Convinced that Sophia's husband is the killer, Jack sets out to prove his innocence and save his marriage. Instead, he leaves a trail of dead bodies in his wake, and the police close in on him. Worse, he discovers that he has been the victim of a sinister scheme that may cost him his life.
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Manhattan real estate agent Jack Harper, the hapless narrator of this uneven crime novel from Starr (Savage Lane), hasn't made a sale in months. A recovering alcoholic, he loves his eight-year-old son, but his marriage to the boy's mother, Marie, is dying. Jack reconnects with an old friend, a former bandmate looking to buy an apartment, who recommends that he try the cheating site Discreet Hookups. After yet another argument with Marie, Jack extends his "history of bad decision-making" by joining the site and almost immediately falling for Sophie Ward, who goes by Fugitive Red on the site. A planned hookup goes horribly wrong when Jack discovers Sophie murdered in her townhouse and then, of course, becomes a person of interest. He can't comprehend why he must be investigated and generally sabotages himself with one idiotic action after another. Smart, convincing dialogue compensates only in part for a trite solution to the murder and a denouement that strains credibility. Starr's fans will hope for a return to form next time.
