The Risk Agent

Rutherford Risk is a firm specializing in extraction: the negotiation for, and the recovery of hostages. Private investigation is illegal in today's China. Operating within her borders will be difficult at best.

The security company recruits two unique outsiders to do their bidding. Grace Chu is a forensic accountant hired to follow the money; John Knox is a civilian with unparalleled training in both combat and culture. Graceandrsquo;s top-notch American education and Chinese military service make her an unassuming, but effective, operative, while Knoxandrsquo;s take-no-prisoners attitude brings them perilously close to harm. Following the money leads to more complex andndash; and dangerous andndash; consequences than either anticipated. Who is actually behind the kidnapping? And more important, can Knox and Grace locate the two hostages ahead of the deadline?

Rich with the atmosphere of Shanghai and crackling with tension-filled suspense, Pearson's latest introduces two compelling new charactersandmdash;and heralds in the start of a brilliant new series.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ridley Pearson begins an electrifying new thriller series.

After a Chinese national working for an American-owned construction company is kidnapped in Shanghai, Rutherford Risk—a hostage rescue firm—is called in. But in China, private investigation is illegal, and operating within its borders will be difficult.

For the job, the company recruits two outsiders: Grace Chu, a refined forensic expert, to follow the money—and John Knox, a hard charger who is experienced in both combat and the street culture of Shanghai. But following the money leads to more complex and hazardous consequences than either anticipated. Who is behind the kidnapping? What are their true motives? And more important, can Knox and Grace save the hostages before the deadline?

It begins as a heist in Sun Valley, Idaho-until the local sheriff discovers a more sinister underlying plan. The crime gets more personal. The stakes are raised, and nothing is as it seems.

Ridley Pearson is the author of more than twenty novels, including the New York Times bestseller Killer Weekend; the Lou Boldt crime series; and many books for young readers, including the award-winning children's novels Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, which he cowrote with Dave Barry. Pearson lives with his wife and two daughters, dividing their time between Missouri and Idaho.