The Viper
A Zig & Nola Novel
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected Jan 6, 2026
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
“A thrilling adventure, full of twists and turns, gripping from the first page to the last. Hugely enjoyable. The perfect book to meet Zig & Nola.” — Alex Michaelides, New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient
New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer is back with his thrilling Zig and Nola series, unraveling a shocking cold case with a personal—and deadly—twist.
Andrew Fechmeier is a master at hiding. He'd better be—he’s spent decades concealing a secret that could get him killed. So when he’s diagnosed with a terminal disease, he heads for the local funeral home carrying the blue suit he eventually wants to be buried in. But what no one knows is that Fechmeier secretly tucked something inside, turning the suit into a final, untraceable hiding spot.
It's a perfect plan. Until Fetch is brutally murdered by a mysterious killer who will stop at nothing to find the priceless object hidden in the suit.
Wasting no time, the cunning but unconventional Roddy LaPointe opens an investigation into Fetch’s murder, recruiting help from his friend, the brilliant “Zig” Zigarowski. But it doesn’t take long for Zig to discover the real reason Roddy cares so much about this case: Fetch’s death is tied to Roddy’s mother, who was murdered decades earlier.
As the relentless killer closes in, Roddy’s twin sister—the enigmatic and volatile Nola Brown—starts investigating for herself, uncovering a sinister plot that reveals their mother’s dark history, the true identity of her killer, and the shocking secret behind her death.
Don’t turn your back on The Viper.
"The Viper is a pulse pounding adventure that takes you on a journey into the darkest recesses of the human heart." — S.A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed and King of Ashes
“Expertly crafted and charged with tension, Meltzer delivers exactly what readers crave: a killer story from a true master of the craft. Smart, sharp, and undeniably gripping—this is Meltzer doing what he does best.” — Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Sky Mourning
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meltzer's high-octane third thriller featuring mortician Jim "Zig" Zigarowski and military artist Nola LaPointe (after The Lightning Rod) starts strong and never takes its foot off the gas. At the outset, a terminally ill man named Andrew Fechmeier conceals an unidentified, ultravaluable object in the lining of an old suit, then asks a Maryland funeral home to hold onto the suit until he's buried in it. That day comes sooner than Andrew expects when, shortly thereafter, he's gunned down by an unseen assailant. As Nola's twin, New Jersey cop Roddy LaPointe, investigates, he comes to believe that Fechmeier's murder may be tied to the decades-old death of Roddy and Nola's mother, who was killed in front of the three-year-old siblings by someone seeking a similar object. To help his inquiry, Roddy recruits his friend Zig, who in turn involves Nola in the proceedings, despite her reluctance to dig up the trauma of her mother's murder. As usual, Meltzer infuses the action with an embarrassment of jaw-dropping plot twists. The author's fans will be more than satisfied.
