John Verdon
Peter Pan Must Die (Dave Gurney, No. 4): A Novel (A Dave Gurney Novel)
John Verdon

Peter Pan Must Die (Dave Gurney, No. 4): A Novel (A Dave Gurney Novel)

Notify me when the book’s added
To read this book, upload an EPUB or FB2 file to Bookmate. How do I upload a book?
In John Verdon’s most sensationally twisty novel yet, ingenious puzzle solver Dave Gurney brings his analytical brilliance to a shocking murder that couldn’t have been committed the way the police say it was.
The daunting task that confronts Gurney, once the NYPD’s top homicide cop: determining the guilt or innocence of a woman already convicted of shooting her charismatic politician husband — who was felled by a rifle bullet to the brain while delivering the eulogy at his own mother’s funeral.
Peeling back the layers, Gurney quickly finds himself waging a dangerous battle of wits with a thoroughly corrupt investigator, a disturbingly cordial mob boss, a gorgeous young temptress, and a bizarre assassin whose child-like appearance has earned him the nickname Peter Pan.
Startling twists and turns occur in rapid-fire sequence, and soon Gurney is locked inside one of the darkest cases of his career — one in which multiple murders are merely the deceptive surface under which rests a scaffolding of pure evil.  Beneath the tangle of poisonous lies, Gurney discovers that the truth is more shocking than anyone had imagined.
And the identity of the villain at the mystery’s center turns out to be the biggest shock of all.
Review**Praise for John Verdon
“It’s always a pleasure to watch a keen mind absorbed in a difficult puzzle, which is how Dave Gurney distinguishes himself in John Verdon’s tricky whodunits.”--New York Times
 
“A masterful bit of writing that builds to a surprising and satisfying climax. The tension and enigmatic situations created en route to the conclusion make this book a definite nail-biter. John Verdon’s writing skill might well cause him to become known as ‘The Puzzle Master.’”-New York Journal of Books
 
“A razor-sharp serial killer thriller… The tension is palpable on virtually every page of a story that perfectly balances the protagonist’s complex inner life with an elaborately constructed puzzle.”--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“Taut and suspenseful…Verdon is in top form as he lays out the twisty mechanics of the crime, creating an agreeably sinister villain.”--Washington Post
“The crime is grisly and the cop is complicated. A nice combination.”--New York Daily News

«Good writing and good storytelling often aren’t the same thing. Verdon combines them masterfully.” — *Newark Star Ledger
* “Verdon is a master at controlling pace, illustrating the story of a rich but complicated marriage, pondering what it means to be sucked back into your life's work even if it might kill you, and demanding that the reader use his or her brain to figure out what comes next.”--Salon

About the AuthorJOHN VERDON is a former Manhattan advertising executive who lives with his wife in the mountains of upstate New York.  His first three Dave Gurney novels, Think of a Number, Shut Your Eyes Tight, and Let the Devil Sleep, are all international bestsellers.
This book is currently unavailable
491 printed pages
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
👍👎

Impressions

  • Theodore Maurice August "Vanderboom" Scarletshared an impression6 months ago
    👍Worth reading
    🚀Unputdownable
    😄LOLZ

Quotes

  • Theodore Maurice August "Vanderboom" Scarlethas quoted6 months ago
    Madeleine was gazing at Gurney with an expression that was at once full of great relief and great weariness—the same qualities that were in her voice. “You came through it all right,” she said. Then added, “That’s the main thing.”

    “Yes.”

    “And you figured it all out. Once again.”

    “Yes. At least, I think so.”

    “Oh, there’s no doubt about it.” On her face was a gentle, indecipherable smile.

    A silence fell between them.
  • Theodore Maurice August "Vanderboom" Scarlethas quoted6 months ago
    In addition to a deep wave of emotional and physical exhaustion, Gurney began to feel a widespread soreness and stiffness setting in—which, after some puzzlement, he attributed to being tackled by the two cops during his efforts to knock the pink cell phone out of Panikos’s hands.

    He was suddenly too tired to think, too tired to stand.

    For a moment, standing there in the hospital room, Gurney closes his eyes. When he does, he sees Peter Pan—all in black, with his back to him. The little man begins turning. His face is a bilious yellow, his smile blood red. Turning. Turning toward him, raising his arms like the wings of a predatory bird.

    The eyes in the bilious face are the eyes of Carl Spalter. Full of horror and hate and despair. The eyes of a man who wished he’d never been born.
  • Theodore Maurice August "Vanderboom" Scarlethas quoted6 months ago
    Gurney recoils at the vision, tries to focus on Madeleine.

    She suggests that he lie down on the hospital bed. She offers to massage his neck and shoulders and back.

    He agrees and soon finds himself in a drifting state of consciousness, feeling only the warmth and gentle pressure of her hands.

    Her voice, soft and soothing, is the only other reality he is aware of.

    In the place between exhaustion and sleep there is a locale of deep disengagement, simplicity, and clarity where he often found a kind of serenity he found nowhere else. He imagined it might be similar to the heroin addict’s rush—a surge of pure, impervious peace.

    It normally was a state of isolation from all sensory stimuli—bringing with it a blessed inability to tell where his body ended and the rest of the world began—but tonight it is different. Tonight the sound of Madeleine’s voice and the penetrating warmth of her hands has been incorporated into the cocoon.

    She is talking about walking on the coast of Cornwall, about the sloping green fields, the stone walls, the cliffs high above the sea …

    Kayaking on a turquoise lake in Canada …

    Cycling in Catskill valleys …

    Picking blueberries …

    Erecting bluebird houses along the border of the high pasture …

    Crossing a stile on a footpath through a Scottish Highlands farm …

    Her voice is as gentle and warm as the touch of her hands on his shoulders.

    He can see her on a bicycle in white sneakers, yellow socks, fuchsia shorts, and a lavender nylon jacket shimmering in the sun.

    Her smile is the smile of Malcolm Claret. Her voice and his voice are one.

    “There is nothing in life that matters but love. Nothing but love.”
fb2epub
Drag & drop your files (not more than 5 at once)