Alone (U)

Alone . . . Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage standoff unfold through the scope of his sniper rifle. Just across the street, in wealthy Back Bay, Boston, an armed man has barricaded himself with his wife and child. The man s finger tightens on the trigger and Dodge has only a split second to react . . . and forever pay the consequences.Alone . . . that s where the nightmare began for cool, beautiful, and dangerously sexy Catherine Rose Gagnon. Twenty-five years ago, she was buried underground during a month-long nightmare of abduction and abuse. Now her husband has just been killed. Her father-in-law, the powerful Judge Gagnon, blames Catherine for his son s death . . . and for the series of unexplained illnesses that have sent her own young son repeatedly to the hospital. Alone . . . a madman survived solitary confinement in a maximum security prison where he d done hard time for the most sadistic of crimes. Now he walks the streets a free man, invisible, anonymous . . . and filled with an unquenchable rage for vengeance. What brings them together is a moment of violence but what connects them is a passion far deeper and much more dangerous. For a killer is loose who s woven such an intricate web of evil that no one is above suspicion, no one is beyond harm, and no one will see death coming until it has them cornered, helpless, and alone. Library Journal Bobby Dodge lives an isolated life. Employed as a sniper for the Massachusetts State Police, he is routinely sent into situations that have the potential to escalate. One night, all of his training literally blows up when he is forced to make a split-second decision and kills a man holding his wife and son hostage. The downward spiral that follows threatens Bobby's career and sanity as unseen forces manipulate events to make Bobby appear guilty of murder. What really happened that fatal night? Three-dimensional characters fill out a riveting story that is like a juicy steak: slow broiled to perfection. Gardner's (The Killing Hour) latest thriller is highly recommended for all public libraries [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04].-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.