Description
From Publishers Weekly Stone takes a breather from his Julian Palmer series ( The Cold Truth , etc.) to pursue what had to be an irresistible high concept for a stand-alone thriller. TV reporter Sam Stevens is working the biggest story of his life—a sniper has killed nine randomly chosen citizens of "Webster County," which could be anywhere U.S.A. Sam's demanding on-air job is made even more difficult by having to constantly deal with the sluttish wife he despises, Denise. Then Sam gets an idea, which savvy readers will see coming early on; what they won't see is the first jaw-dropping twist that turns Sam's carefully plotted path to freedom into an unexpected road to perdition. Readers who are veterans of the serial killer genre will think they're witnessing more of the same tired conventions, only to be confounded and amazed when they're tricked time and again by this master plotter. There's too much interior dialogue, but never mind; turn the page and a new rabbit will come leaping out of Stone's imaginative hat. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist A sniper is picking off victim after victim. The police are stymied. The news media are in high gear. Sam Stevens, a television reporter, sees the killings as his chance to catapult himself to the top rank of his profession and, if he can arrange things just right, out of a disastrous marriage. Full of surprises, this fast-paced novel features vivid characters, sharp dialogue, and a protagonist readers will find it increasingly difficult to root for. Readers familiar with Stone's Julian Palmer series ( Breakthrough , 2003) will see that he has jumped up a couple of literary notches. David Pitt Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Only a handful of plots circulate through fiction - but even if you think you've read them all, you'll be shocked and surprised by Parting Shot . Exquisitely plotted...hang on tight because the end of the book presents so many surprises, U-turns and double-crosses that you'll be dizzy - and exhilarated. If you read one mystery for the rest of the year, make it Parting Shot ."-- Cleveland Plain Dealer From the Inside Flap A serial sniper is on the loose, claiming victim after random victim.TV reporter Sam Stevens sees no reason why his wife canx92t be one of them.xa0Local television reporter Sam Stevens is consumed by his failing marriage and, more than that, by the psychological harm his wife is doing to their ten-year-old son. As Sam covers a once-in-a-lifetime story---one that has turned Webster County into bedlam but is at last providing Sam with an opportunity for media stardom---he suddenly sees an even better chance: to solve his personal problems forever. But therex92s another player thrust into the national spotlight along with Sam: Itx92s Sheriff Billy Wyatt, whox92s in way over his head. The FBI is breathing down his neck, and the national press highlights his every bungle. Hex92s confronting a madman---and his own limits. Can he outsmart either? Out of elements that thriller readers have come to expect, Jonathan Stone has woven a story they assuredly will not expect. In whirlwind action and hurricane prose that echo the best of James Patterson and Harlan Coben, Stone is in top form here, delivering a tale about the unchecked power of the media and the unreasonable passions of fatherhood---with a payoff that will stun and startle, yet make perfect sense. Parting Shot is a shot of adrenaline. Itx92s a bullet that rotates wildly till it finds its target---deep in the readerx92s imagination. Itx92s the latest work from a writer whose fiction Ian Rankin has hailed as x93prime entertainmentx94 and T. Jefferson Parker has called x93clever, bold, and a little nasty.x94 JONATHAN STONE writes his fiction primarily on the commuter train between his advertising job in Manhattan and his home in Connecticut, where he lives with his wife, his two children, and their Boston terrier. He is a graduate of Yale. This is his fourth novel. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Parting Shot1Another victim.Sheryl Behar.Fifty-four. (Though by now they know age doesn't matter.)Another yellow pushpin in the county map. (Yellow for female. Blue for male. Red for child. Though by now they know gender and geography don't matter, either.)Another news conference in the makeshift police briefing room at the far end of the station house's main hallway. A windowless, fluorescent-lit room of various former functions--temporary file storage, ad hoc staff meetings, end-of-shift surprise birthday parties for municipal employees--requisitioned now in the name of calamity.Another occasion to pull open the tent flaps on the media circus. To crank up the calliope of local broadcasts and network feeds. The folding chairs and tables are jammed against one another haphazardly, as if violently broken from their original neat rows. Black, green, red, yellow cables wind along the floor like colorful, poisonous snakes.The camera lights fill the briefing room with heat againstwhich three old ceiling fans turn uselessly. The lights flood the room with the blistering brightness of an interrogation, but in reverse: There's a cop in the halogen cross fire.Another occasion for Webster County Sheriff William "Big Billy" Wyatt to get smaller. To continue performing his disappearing act. Diminishing before their eyes in some slight but detectable, physical way, with each announcement of each new victim.Soon the media circus is in full swing, and Big Billy is the performing seal in the center ring--squawking, dancing, sadly amusing, pointlessly upbeat. The reporters are the circling lions and tigers, beasts of every stripe (baseball jackets over T-shirts, dark suits over sweat-stained oxford button-downs, the occasional tailored ensemble with pumps) growling and salivating and ready to pounce on the meaty, slow, well-lit prey. The long silver booms of the microphones are a herd of curious giraffes, insinuating their way from high up down into Billy Wyatt's face.The victims: male, female, old, young, black, white, spinster aunt, bright-eyed teen--by now it's clear there is no pattern. By now it's clear that no pattern is the pattern. To make apparent the randomness. To strike fear and terror democratically, unilaterally.Nothing new. Matches the same MO. Officers are swarming the area. The sniper will make a mistake. They always do.Now the reporters are cormorants--squawking, shrieking as they swoop over a fresh corpse: What do I tell my readers? What do I say to my viewers? Stay inside? Avoid convenience stores? Avoid unnecessary errands? Keep the kids home from school? Don't travel alone?A media circus. A frenzy of wires and cords and electronics and BlackBerries and cell phones and walkie-talkies and shouts and accusations and recriminations, tossed irritably and cynically toward the podium--the only conversational tone the reporters seem to know.The bright, airless briefing room. A new and special circle of hell.It's a chaotic, cheerless realm.It's a grim, gruesome assignment.And local TV reporter Sam Stevens would much rather be here than at home.PARTING SHOT. Copyright © 2006 by Jonathan Stone. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Local television reporter Sam Stevens is consumed by his failing marriage and, more than that, by the psychological harm his wife is doing to their ten-year-old son. As Sam covers a once-in-a-lifetime story---one that has turned Webster County into bedlam but is at last providing Sam with an opportunity for media stardom---he suddenly sees an even better chance: to solve his personal problems forever. But there’s another player thrust into the national spotlight along with Sam: It’s Sheriff Billy Wyatt, who’s in way over his head. The FBI is breathing down his neck, and the national press highlights his every bungle. He’s confronting a madman---and his own limits. Can he outsmart either? Out of elements that thriller readers have come to expect, Jonathan Stone has woven a story they assuredly will not expect. In whirlwind action and hurricane prose that echo the best of James Patterson and Harlan Coben, Stone is in top form here, delivering a tale about the unchecked power of the media and the unreasonable passions of fatherhood---with a payoff that will stun and startle, yet make perfect sense.
- Parting Shot
- is a shot of adrenaline. It’s a bullet that rotates wildly till it finds its target---deep in the reader’s imagination. It’s the latest work from a writer whose fiction Ian Rankin has hailed as “prime entertainment” and T. Jefferson Parker has called “clever, bold, and a little nasty.”
