Airtight

December 17, 2012
Lt. Luke Somers, of the New Jersey State Police, faces a critical deadline in this solid stand-alone from Edgar-finalist Rosenfelt (Heart of a Killer). When an anonymous tip names drug addict Steven Gallagher as the killer of Judge Daniel Brennan, who was about to sentence Steven in court, Somers confronts Steven and winds up shooting him in self-defense. Steven’s Marine brother, Chris, tells Somers he has one week to clear Steven’s name and find Brennan’s real killer, or else Chris will kill Somers’s brother, whom he has kidnapped. Somers’s desperate search for another explanation for Brennan’s murder takes him to Brayton, a town bitterly divided by a lawsuit over a plan to extract natural gas by fracking, with a major landowner in favor and the mayor against. Somers may be forced to cross ethical lines to save or avenge his brother. Rosenfelt’s cat-and-mouse game doesn’t rank high on the thrill meter, but Somers is a protagonist with series potential. Author tour. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

January 15, 2013
If a New Jersey state cop can't prove within a week that the murder suspect he shot dead was innocent, his brother will pay the price. When a knife attack ends rising legal star Daniel Brennan's rise just before he's scheduled to move up from the Superior Court bench to the Court of Appeals, Lt. Lucas Somers catches the case. The judge's murder is so high-profile that Luke's boss gives him extra resources, extra leeway and extra pressure. The very first lead Luke pursues--three-time drug offender Steven Gallagher, whom Brennan had promised a stiff sentence--turns up trumps for Luke, though not so much for Steven, whom Luke shoots three times as Steven, cornered in his Paterson apartment, raises his gun. It's clearly a righteous shooting, and Luke is rewarded with congratulations, television interviews and the kidnapping of his brother, Bryan, by Steven's brother, Chris, a Marine who flew home from Afghanistan to help Steven face his legal woes and now intends to deal with his death by taking the life of his killer's brother, whom he's chained in an underground shelter with a TV, a computer, some food and enough air for seven days. Can Luke rise to Chris Gallagher's challenge and collect enough evidence of Steven's innocence to save his own brother's life? Acting on another hunch, he quickly satisfies himself that the real reason for Judge Brennan's death was a civil suit concerning fracking in upstate New York. But Luke will need every one of his enviable law enforcement contacts in order to determine just which of the many interested parties was determined to tip the scales of justice. This latest stand-alone from the chronicler of attorney Andy Carpenter (Leader of the Pack, 2012, etc.) is two-thirds perfectly controlled suspense, one-third scrambled windup.

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Starred review from February 15, 2013
Second Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Judge Daniel Brennan is just days away from appointment when he is found murdered in his driveway. The feds move in, but New Jersey detective Luke Somers lands a hot tip that druggie Steven Gallagher may be the killer. Gallagher is armed, and in the heat of the moment, Somers kills him and becomes a national hero. Gallagher's brother Chris, home on leave from his elite Marine Force Recon unit, is outraged and determined to prove his brother's innocence. He kidnaps Somers' brother and threatens to kill him unless Somers finds the real killer within seven days. Somers starts digging and uncovers plenty of conflicting information, but will it be enough to save his brother? The tension is palpable, and the pages fly by in this riveting stand-alone thriller from the author of the Andy Carpenter mystery series. The voice here is every bit as engaging as in the Carpenter novels, with enough humor to lighten the story without diminishing the suspense. And the ending is a real shocker. Sure to appeal to fans of Harlan Coben and Robert Crais.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)