Icarus
A Thriller
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling author of Gideon reinvents Hitchcock's classic thriller formula in this sophisticated and suspenseful novel about an innocent man caught up in events past and present way beyond his control, and thrown into a terrifying maelstrom of deceit and murder.
As a young boy, Jack Keller witnessed a life-altering tragedy the murder of his mother. Thirty years later, Jack has it all a great marriage, a successful chain of restaurants bearing his name, lifelong friends, and good health. But in one second and with one bullet it all becomes worthless when a second tragedy occurs during the opening of a new restaurant. As Jack recovers from his injuries and the resulting psychological trauma, he is nursed back to health by Kid Demeter, a mysterious young man who was once as close to Jack as any son could be. As Kid trains his mentor and father figure, he confides in Jack about the various women in his life. Each one is identified only by her nickname and each one is presented as appealing, sexy...and extremely dangerous. And then a third tragedy occurs. Kid is found sprawled on the pavement after plunging twenty stories to his death.
Jack refuses to accept the police theory of suicide. Convinced that one of Kid's women is a killer, he finds himself searching for answers in Kid's world, a world of lap dancing and after- hours clubs, of drugs and violence and overwhelming sensuality. But as Jack's suspicions arise, as he draws closer to the truth, an unknown threat lurks just ahead of him, anticipating his every move and killing whoever is in the way. As past and present merge, as Kid's world overtakes Jack's, as Jack begins to understand just how high the stakes are in the game he has elected to play, he knows only one thing for certain: he must find the killer before the killer finds him. Following up the success of Gideon, Icarus is a truly Hitchcockian thriller of an innocent man pursued by an almost unimaginable and unstoppable danger.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From ex-Villard publisher Peter Gethers and mystery writer David Handler, the pseudonymous duo who penned Gideon (1999), comes this overwritten yarn about a restaurateur It seems incredible that flaws such as meandering POV and lapses into journalistic (omniscient) expository asides could come from such well-versed professionals. However, readers who suffer through the sluggish first 100 pages will be rewarded to find that the novel eventually takes hold and moves briskly forward. Fatherless 10-year-old Jack Keller watches a madman hurl his mother out of a Manhattan skyscraper window and is saved from the same fate by his wannabe stepfather, a successful butcher who takes him in. At 20, Jack meets Caroline, a drop-dead gorgeous Virginia belle at Columbia University. They marry and open Jack's, a trendy New York City eatery. In four years, they own branches in Chicago, L.A., Miami and Paris. Unable to have children, they adopt Kid, a charismatic youth who, on his way to athletic fame at St. John's University, suddenly vanishes. To get on with her life, Caroline goes to hometown Charlottesville to open a restaurant. On opening day, she is brutally murdered by a masked man who also wounds Jack so badly he is left in a wheelchair. Soon the chimerical Kid shows up with a degree in physical therapy and gets Jack back on his feet. But Kid doesn't last long. When his leap from his penthouse is ruled suicide, Jack knows he must get to the bottom of the chain of deaths, no matter what the cost. Spoiled by an hors d'oeuvre tray of twists, a buffet of subplots and a glut of trivia, this chiller is plagued by the same flaws as the overstuffed (but bestselling) Gideon.
