The Pawn

Informationen zum Autor Steven James  is the national bestselling author of a dozen novels, including the critically acclaimed thrillers The King ,  Opening Moves , and  The Queen . He has won three Christy Awards for best suspense and was a finalist for an International Thriller Award. His thriller,  The Bishop , was named  Suspense Magazine ’s book of the year.  Publishers Weekly  calls him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.” James has a master’s degree in storytelling and has taught writing and creative communication around the world. Klappentext As an environmental criminologist, Patrick Bowers uses 21st-century geospatial technology to analyze the time and space in which a crime takes place. Using an array of factors, Bowers can pinpoint clues to solve the toughest of cases. Bowers?s skills have made him one of the FBI?s top agents?until now. Called to the mountains of North Carolina to consult on a gruesome murder, Bowers finds himself in a deadly duel with a serial killer who seems to transcend Patrick?s analytical powers. Forced to track the killer?s horrific murders one by one, Bowers finds his techniques and instincts are put to the ultimate test? Thursday October 23, 2008 Somewhere above the mountains of western North Carolina 5:31 p.m. I peered out the window of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV, helicopter of choice for both the Georgia State Patrol and the Department of the Interior, as we roared over the mountainous border of Georgia and North Carolina. Clouds rose dark on the horizon. The colors of autumn were still lingering on the rolling slopes of the southern Appalachians, although winter had started to creep into the higher elevations. Far below us, the hills rose and fell, rose and fell, zipping past. For a few minutes I watched the shadow of the helicopter gliding over the mountains and dipping down into the shadowy valleys like a giant insect skimming across the landscape, searching for a place to land. Even though it was late fall, ribbons of churning water pounded down the mountains in the aftermath of a series of fierce storms. In the springtime these hills produce some of the most fantastic whitewater rafting in all of North America. I know. I used to paddle them years ago when I spent a year working near here as a wilderness guide for the North Carolina Outward Bound School. Now, it seemed like those days were in another life. Before I became what I am. Before any of this. But as I looked out the window, the waters weren't blue like I remembered them. Instead, they were brown and swollen from a recent rain. Wriggling back and forth through the hills like thick, restless snakes. I glanced at my watch: 5:34 p.m. We should be landing within the next ten minutes. Which was good, because with the clouds rolling in, it didn't look like we had a whole lot of sunlight ahead of us. Maybe an hour. Maybe less. My good friend Special Agent Ralph Hawkins had called me in. Just a few hours ago I was in Atlanta presenting a seminar on strategic crime analysis for the National Law Enforcement Methodology Conference. Another conference. Another lecture series. It seemed like that was all I'd been doing for the last six months. Sure, I'd consulted on a couple dozen cases, but they weren't a big deal. Mostly I'd been teaching and researching criminology. Trying to forget. I'd have to say that despite how disoriented my life had become, the biggest casualty had been my sixteen-year-old—wait, seventeen-year-old—stepdaughter Tessa. After the funeral, I tried to get close to her, but it didn't work. Nothing did. Eventually we just drifted into our separate routines, our separate lives. Case in point: here I was in the Southeast while she stayed with my parents back home in Denver. Ralph wasn't the kind of man to waste time or words being cordial. He'd jumped right to the point whe...

Product details

• Authors: Steven James
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 01.09.2009
• EAN: 9780451412799
• ISBN: 978-0-451-41279-9
• No. of pages: 448
• Dimensions: 105 mm x 172 mm x 30 mm
• Series: Bowers Files; Patrick Bowers Mysteries; Patrick Bowers; The Bowers Files
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense