Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner
An Evan Delaney Mystery
Signet (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-22523-6 (0451225236)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22523-8 (9780451225238)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $7.99
Review: Evan Delaney is on a frantic search for her kidnapped father in Kill Chain, the gripping fifth mystery in this series by Meg Gardiner.
One Sunday Phil Delaney leaves a cryptic message on his daughter’s fiancé’s answering machine that he is in mortal danger. He is about to be abducted, possibly tortured, and most definitely left in some difficult to find place to die. He implores Jesse to fulfill his urgent request that day, as Monday may be too late. Under no circumstances is he to reveal the contents of this message to Evan or allow her to become involved in any way. If she does somehow find out about this mission she will not only put herself in danger, but also members of her family. They will become components of the kill chain.
Just a day later Phil’s car is found nose down at the foot of a ravine against a boulder. Phil is missing, as is his computer which Evan said he had placed on the floor behind his seat. Evan receives a call from the kidnapper, demanding a ransom, not in money, but a life. She is told her father has about 72 hours of water and air to stay alive unless she obtains and delivers certain mission documents that Phil had been involved in while working for the government. These documents would not only prove murder, but also the mistreatment and the cruelty of people who did monstrous things to children and who would continue if they were not stopped. Evan must find the trail that leads to the documents. The trail is a long arduous one taking Evan from her home in Los Angeles to Bangkok and London. This confusing, intricate web Evan muddles through to find answers brings to life evidence that Phil had led a secret life outside his family and the government. With gangsters, the FBI, and police putting up road blocks every where she turns, she must circumvent all entrapments to be able to find the documents no matter what information turns up against her father. Finally she gets back to L.A. but is she in time to find her father in order to save his life? Whose life does the kidnapper want for Phil’s and why?
Kill Chain is a profound, multi-faceted, exhilarating novel. Gripping and fast-moving are also applicable adjectives. Some of the characters are loving and compassionate while others will make the reader's spine tingle. If this thriller is typical of the series, Evan may not have the stamina to appear in many more! Kill Chain is highly recommended.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Kill Chain and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
If you are interested in purchasing Kill Chain from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.
Synopsis (from the publisher): When Evan Delaney's father disappears, the cops think he's fled the country to avoid prosecution. But Evan is sure he's been abducted or killed for reasons associated with his work for Naval Intelligence. As Evan hunts for clues, she's attacked by an armed man. The attacker ends up dead--and turns out to be a federal agent. Now Evan is on the run, implicated in his murder. And then she's contacted by a sinister duo--a madam and gigolo mother-and-son team who claim her father was mixed up in their very dirty business. Can Evan save her father's reputation--and his life?
Evan's suspicions of something sinister are confirmed when she receives a call from her father's kidnappers. The ransom isn't money, but more of a puzzle—one that Evan has only 72 hours to piece together, as she follows a madman's trail into the very heart of darkness.
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