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Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Bissell, S. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From the critically acclaimed author of In the Forest of Harm , one of suspense fiction's most exciting new voices, comes a stunning psychological thriller, a novel of conspiracy and revenge and of a ruthless killer whose shocking reign of terror can be stopped by only one woman.
A Darker Justice
For Assistant District Attorney Mary Crow, the misty mountains of Little Jump Off, North Carolina, still echo with secrets hidden in shallow graves. Now, at the request of the FBI, she is called back from Atlanta to her childhood home for a matter both professional ... and deeply personal.
Three federal judges are dead -- victims of an assassin so swift and skilled in the deadly arts that the only clue left behind is his trademark black feather. The killer's last victim was executed in a fashion so brazen, brutal, and horrifying, it even has hardened law enforcement officials rattled. They are desperate to protect the next suspected target -- Judge Irene Hannah -- but the stubborn jurist has adamantly refused federal protection.
It is up to Mary -- and tight-lipped, hard-boiled FBI agent Daniel Safer -- to protect her old friend and mentor as best they can. But the threat is much closer to home than Mary could ever imagine. When Judge Hannah disappears, Mary must follow her on a terrifying chase through the Carolina wilderness she knows and loves.
Deep within the beautiful and treacherous forest, a rogue killer and his army of "soldiers" are waiting. Soon Mary will have to confront a battle for survival in a place where there is no law and no mercy ... only a darker justice.
Author Notes
Sallie Bissell lives in Asheville, North Carolina. She is at work on her second suspense novel, which Bantam will publish in Spring 2002 and which will also feature prosecutor Mary Crow.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
For those who missed Bissell's well-received debut thriller, In the Forest of Harm, Bissell briefly sums it up at the beginning of her second offering. Atlanta prosecutor Mary Crow, while at the wedding of her dearest friend, Alexandria McCrimmon, reflects on the horrific events that unfolded 14 months before: "Alex had accompanied Mary on a camping trip in the Nantahalah Forest. The trip had turned bad when Alex had been abducted by a psychopathic trapper. Ultimately she'd been airlifted from the Appalachian forests, half-naked and nearly beaten to death." If that sounds like a bad trip, the goings-on this time are even worse. A powerful, secretive right-wing cabal called FaithAmerica which has its eyes on the U.S. presidency has been using students at Camp Unakawaya, a last-chance military school for teenage boys, to knock off federal judges who veer too far to the left in terms of legislating racial equality. One of the school's students the only one ever to win the coveted Black Feather for total dedication goes too far and messily beheads a female judge, calling undue attention to the previous deaths. The next victim appears to be Mary's friend and mentor, Judge Irene Hannah, but Hannah stubbornly refuses protection, so of course Mary is the only one who can save her. This takes her back into the woods and the arms of her former lover, the enigmatic Jonathan Walkingstick, and finally underground into some dank caverns where truth and justice lie. Bissell's narrative drive should carry readers right along, despite some farfetched aspects to the story. (Jan. 7) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Half-Cherokee Atlanta ADA Mary Crow (In the Forest of Harm, 2000) returns once more to the woods of North Carolina, where the ghost of her murdered mother competes for attention with present-day miscreants. Reverend Gerald LeClaire, the guileless prophet of FaithAmerica, thinks God wants him to be president. But his more sinister followers plan to fulfill his prophecy of doom for the false Solomons of the federal bench the old-fashioned way: by murdering a dozen sitting judges, one per month. Unfortunately, the overeager disciple of Sergeant Robert Wurth, the ex-Army man they've recruited to turn a camp for young offenders into a training ground for ask-no-questions foot soldiers, got carried away with execution #11, and the FBI is now alert to the threat to #12, Richmond appellate judge Irene Hannah, who practically raised Mary Crow after her parents died. Stung by the notion that justice needs armed guards, Her Honor has refused federal protection, and it's Mary's job to talk her into accepting it. But only the dullest readers will be surprised when Mary ends up as Judge Hannah's protector herself, or when Wurth slips past the cordon FBI agent Daniel Safer has thrown up around the judge's horse farm, stands over her with the lethal needle inches from her neck, and then decides that killing is too good for her. From this point on, the descent into standard-issue action is swift. The judge vanishes during an innocuous excursion into town; Mary, packed off in disgrace, sneaks back into town and goes hunting for her old friend; Safer hooks up with Jonathan Walkingstick, the ex-lover Mary still pines for, and goes after her; and the nation's future lies in the hands of a juvenile offender who still hasn't learned to ask no questions. There'll be more revelations about Mary's parents, too, in a twist that threatens to turn this series into backwoods soap opera.
Booklist Review
Someone appears to be killing federal judges: 11 of them in the past 11 months, including one who was found beheaded in her office. Authorities fear the next victim will be Irene Hannah, who has refused federal protection. So the FBI asks Mary Crow, an assistant district attorney (and friend of the intended victim), to protect Judge Hannah. (Bissell acknowledges the implausibility of the FBI's enlisting the aid of a civilian by having a couple of her characters discuss the oddity of the situation.) The premise established, the story soon settles comfortably into realistic thriller mode. Can Mary Crow protect the judge? And, when the judge disappears, can Mary find her before it's too late? Despite the implausibility problem and a few easy-to-spot plot twists, Bissell's tale gathers a full head of narrative steam that keeps the pages turning. For thriller fans who value action over subtlety. --David Pitt