Tell No Lies

June 3, 2013
In this thrill-packed stand-alone from Thriller Award–finalist Hurwitz (The Survivor), Daniel Brasher, a counselor working with ex-cons in San Francisco, receives an anonymous, semi-literate letter in his mailbox that reads: “admit what youv done. or you will bleed for it.” The letter is actually addressed to someone else, a man who, Brasher soon discovers, has just been brutally murdered. When he receives two more threat letters, each addressed to a new person, it becomes clear that the killer is sending a message. Brasher must examine the messy entanglements of his life to discover just why the killer is targeting him in this fashion. While at times a bit cloak and dagger—once Brasher looks in a standing mirror only to realize that “beyond the tilted bottom frame of the mirror” the killer’s boots are peaking out—the mystery lover will want to carry though until the somewhat strained end to learn the link between Brasher and the murderer. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

Almost every scene in this thriller leads to a confrontation or chase, and those that don't are rich with social commentary. The inimitable Scott Brick, master of the pregnant pause, injects an angry gloom into the characters, nearly all victims of sad and wasted lives. Daniel Brasher is a group counselor for felons who are trying to make their way out of the system, one way or another. Despite his dedication to the common good, Brasher finds himself the recipient of anonymous communications that threaten him and everyone he loves. Brick is a gripping narrator who injects just enough individuality into the characters to make them sound authentic. The setting of the story, San Francisco, is almost a character in itself. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine