Synopses & Reviews
Laurel Shields, thirty-five and mother of two, awakens to find that her husband, Warren, a prominent local physician, is not in bed with her. Creeping out to the kitchen of their palatial home, she sees him through the doorway of his study, wildly pulling books from the shelves. Two weeks earlier, Warren and his partner were informed by the IRS that their medical practice was being audited; since then the stress on Dr. Shields has steadily ratcheted up. But Laurel has problems of her own. Quickly returning to the bedroom, she locks herself in the master bath, opens a home pregnancy testing kit, and fearfully tests herself. PREGNANT, announces the digital readout. Laurel closes her eyes as though absorbing news of a death, then quickly hides the evidence. She is not sure who the father is. Summoning all her strength, she walks into the kitchen to carry out the acting performance of her life. Later that morning, Laurel returns home and is surprised to find her husband's car still parked in the driveway. The house has a strange stillness to it. In the den, she finds Warren sitting on the sofa in the same clothes he wore the previous day. His face is pale and unshaven, his eyes hollow with fear. Then, in come the children, innocent of it all? So begins the most terrifying day in the history of a marriage, one that in less than five hours will make the Shields house the vortex of a nerve-wracking siege. While a nervous ring of armed men awaits its chance to storm the suburban home, inside the house the clock ticks down on exposure of Laurel's terrible secret. But she is not alone in her lies. Before the siege is through, this terrifying drama will pull in desperate characters from the town and drive Dr. Shields, his wife, and her lover to the very brink of sanity and survival.
Synopsis
Elizabeth Pike, thirty-five, awakens in her perfect house in a perfect neighborhood in a beautiful little town to find that her husband, Dr. John Pike, is not in bed with her. She rises, pads through their palatial suburban home, and finds him wildly pulling books from the shelves in his study, wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday. John claims that his frantic search is the result of an IRS audit of his medical practice, one that has been ratcheting up the tension on him and his partners for the past two weeks. But Liz is not so sure.
For the past year, she has been involved with Daniel McDavitt, a retired air force pilot, married with two children, one of whom is autistic. When Liz realized that her lover would never risk losing his autistic son, she ended their affair. The separation has been killing her, but now the pain of the past weeks seems as nothing because she is certain that shes pregnant by McDavitt. Her husband is still searching their house when she leaves, but she has no other choice than to go to work. At lunchtime, she returns home and finds her husband sitting on the sofa with a wild look in his eyes. When she looks down from his unshaven face, she recognizes a piece of notebook paper with green ink on it lying on the coffee table a letter from her lover that shed hidden inside a book.
Then she sees a gun in her husbands hand.
So begins this taut, page-turner from Greg Iles, the poster boy of southern gothic thrillers (Kirkus Reviews), and one of the most original and entertainingwriters to come down the pike in a long time (The Denver Post).
Synopsis
Sometimes the gravest dangers--and the darkest souls--live right beside us....
In the span of twenty-four hours, everything Laurel Shields believes about her life and her marriage to a prominent doctor will be shattered--if she survives a terrifying ordeal. The day begins with the jarring discovery that, soon after ending an affair, Laurel is pregnant. But when she returns home to find her husband ashen, unkempt, and on the brink of violence, a nightmare quickly unfolds.
In the heart of an idyllic Mississippi town, behind the walls of her perfect house, Laurel finds herself locked in a volatile standoff with a husband she barely recognizes. Confronted with evidence of her betrayal, she must tread a deadly path between truth and deception while a ring of armed police prepares a dangerous rescue. But Laurel's greatest fear--and her only hope--lies with her former lover, a brave man whom fate has granted the power to save both Laurel and her children--if she can protect his identity long enough....
Synopsis
Elizabeth Pike, 35, comes home for lunch to her perfect house in a perfect neighborhood in a beautiful little town to find her husband, Dr. John Pike, on the sofa with a gun--and recognizes a piece of notebook paper in his hand as a letter from her lover. Unabridged. 14 CDs.