The Hunted
THE HUNTED
Copyright © 2001, 2011 by Alan Jacobson
PUBLISHED BY:
Premier Digital Publishing
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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owners and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Alan Jacobson has established a reputation as one of the most insightful suspense and thriller writers of our time. His exhaustive research, coupled with years of unprecedented access to law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, bring realism and unique characters to his pages. Following are his current, and coming, releases. (Release dates are subject to change.)
False Accusations
(eBook release coming Spring/Summer 2011)
Dr. Phillip Madison has everything: wealth, power, and an impeccable reputation. But in the pre-dawn hours of a quiet California suburb, the revered orthopedic surgeon is charged with double homicide—a cold blooded hit-and-run that has left an innocent young couple dead. Blood evidence has brought the police to his door. An eyewitness has placed him at the crime scene...and Madison has no alibi. With his family torn apart, his career forever damaged, no way to prove his innocence and facing life in prison, Madison hires an investigator to find the person who has engineered the case against him.
False Accusations
is a psychological thriller that instantly became a National Bestseller and launched Alan Jacobson’s career, a novel that spurred CNN to call him, “One of the brightest stars in the publishing industry.”
The Hunted
How well do you know the one you love? Lauren Chambers’ husband Michael disappears while on a ski trip—but as she searches for him, she discovers Michael’s hidden past involving the FBI, international assassins—and government secrets that some will go to great lengths to keep hidden. As
The Hunted
hurtles toward a conclusion mined with turn-on-a-dime twists, no one is who he appears to be and nothing is as it seems.
The Hunted
introduces the dynamic Department of Defense covert operative Hector DeSantos and FBI Director Douglas Knox, characters who return in
Velocity
,
Hard Target
, and future Alan Jacobson novels.
The 7th Victim
What reader wouldn’t like a character who is tough, smart, funny, very believable, and compelling? That’s how literary giants Nelson DeMille and James Patterson describe Karen Vail, the first female FBI profiler. Vail, with a dry sense of humor and a closet full of skeletons, heads up a task force to find the Dead Eyes Killer, who is murdering young women in the Virginia and Washington, D.C. region: the backyard of the famed FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Named one of the Top 5 Best Books of the Year (
Library Journal
),
The 7th Victim
is a psychological suspense thriller that packs a powerful ending no reader will see coming.
Crush
FBI Profiler Karen Vail travels to the Napa Valley for a vacation—but the Crush Killer has other plans. Vail and Inspector Roxxann Dixon lead a task force to find the architect of death who leaves his victims in exclusive wine caves and vineyards.
Crush
is not only a twisting and compelling read, but it brings the wine country to life in a story that
Publishers Weekly
describes as “addicting” and
New York Times
bestselling author Steve Martini says is “Crisply written and meticulously researched,” and which “rocks from the opening page to the jarring conclusion.”
Velocity
A missing detective. A bold serial killer. And evidence that makes FBI Profiler Karen Vail question the loyalty of those she has entrusted her life to. Squaring off against foes more dangerous than any she has yet encountered, shocking personal and professional truths emerge—truths that may just be more than Vail can handle.
Velocity
was named to
The Strand
magazine’s Top 10 Best Books for 2010,
Suspense Magazine
’s Top 4 Best Thrillers of 2010,
Library Journal
’s Top 5 Best Books of the Year, and the
Los Angeles Times
’ top picks of the year. Michael Connelly said
Velocity
is “As relentless as a bullet. Karen Vail is my kind of hero and Alan Jacobson is my kind of writer!” (Since
Crush
and
Velocity
form essentially one large story, it’s advisable to read
Crush
before reading
Velocity
.)
Inmate 1577
(Coming Spring 2011)
When an elderly woman is found raped and brutally murdered, Karen Vail heads west to team up with Inspector Lance Burden and Detective Roxxann Dixon. As they follow the killer’s trail in and around San Francisco, the offender leaves behind clues that ultimately lead them to the most unlikely of places, a mysterious island ripped from city lore whose long-buried, decades-old secrets hold the key to their case: Alcatraz. The Rock. It’s a case that has more twists and turns than the famed Lombard Street. The legendary Clive Cussler called
Inmate 1577
“a powerful thriller, brilliantly conceived and written.”
Hard Target
(Coming soon; release date to be announced)
An explosion pulverizes the president-elect's helicopter on Election Night. It soon becomes clear that the group behind the assassination possesses far greater reach than anything the FBI has yet encountered—and a plot so deeply interwoven in the country’s fabric that it threatens to upend America's political system. But as covert operative Hector DeSantos and FBI Agent Dan “Uzi” Uziel sort out who is behind the bombings, Uzi’s personal demons not only jeopardize the investigation but may sit at the heart of a tangle of lies that threaten to trigger an international terrorist attack. Hailed by political thriller master Vince Flynn as “a smart, complex novel that explodes from the page," and by Lee Child as “a great thriller” that’s “fast, hard, and intelligent,”
Hard Target
is a ticking time bomb that makes you think while keeping you clinging to the edge of your seat.
For a peek at recently released and new, soon-to-be released Alan Jacobson novels, go to
alanjacobson.com
.
For Jill,
whose natural wisdom guides me,
whose tenderness touches me,
whose heart warms me...
I have no secrets from you
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Sneak Peek:
The 7th Victim
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
“There are many truths, some valid for one, some for another. Things are not what they seem... It is a lesson we must learn and relearn because we keep searching for certainty, and certainty does not exist.
—Harrison Salisbury
August
The United States Attorney stood on the courthouse steps, the hot August air oppressively still and heavy with humidity. Reporters were gathered around him, microphones and digital recorders shoved toward his drawn face.
“I only have a brief statement for you. At twelve-thirty this afternoon, Judge Richard Noonan held a hearing on newly discovered evidence in the Anthony Scarponi murder conviction of six years ago. The defense has secured what Judge Noonan has determined to be a credible witness who can provide evidence of Mr. Scarponi’s innocence. Collaterally, the Department of Justice has failed to locate former FBI agent Harper Payne, who was the central witness for the government in the original trial. As a result, Judge Noonan has ordered the release of Mr. Scarponi on two million dollars bail pending the scheduling of a new trial.”
A flurry of questions burst forth from the press corps. Instead of answering them, the U.S. Attorney turned and walked back up the courthouse steps. A screaming headache was beginning to take shape, and the last thing he needed was two dozen journalists asking the one question he had been asking himself repeatedly the past several days: How could this have happened?
September
The apartment was a sparsely decorated studio on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., secured by contacts he had maintained while incarcerated in the maximum security prison in Petersburg, Virginia. He had hoped the day would come when he would be out on his own again, free to roam the streets like a jaguar prowling for its next quarry.
Anthony Scarponi knew that to have true freedom, the tiny tracking device implanted in his buttock had to be removed. Some foreign physicians would perform such a procedure without asking questions, but finding one in the United States would be time-consuming and dangerous.