Final Seconds

March 15, 1998
Will Harper, a member of the NYPD bomb squad, lost part of a hand in an explosion at a city high school. While Harper is in Florida visiting his former partner, Jimmy Fahey, who works for a Tom Clancy^-like writer, a letter bomb arrives at the author's compound. The explosion kills Fahey and two colleagues. Loyalty to his dead partner prompts Harper to investigate; eventually, he connects the bombing to a series of seemingly unrelated incidents involving other celebrities. With the help of a reclusive former FBI profiler named Addleman, Harper finally homes in on a suspect but then must convince the authorities that the next victim may be a visiting British princess. Lutz is the award-winning author of the Fred Carver series, and August is a pseudonym for another well-known mystery writer. Together, they've created a pair of mismatched, very likable protagonists and placed them in a complex thriller with Unabomber overtones. Lutz always delivers the goods, and this is no exception. ((Reviewed March 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)