Crush

Fresh off the most challenging case of her career, The 7th Victim heroine and renowned FBI profiler Karen Vail returns in an explosive thriller set against the backdrop of California's wine country. Hoping to find solace from the demons that haunt her, Vail makes her first trip to the Napa Valley. But shortly after arriving, a victim is found in the deepest reaches of an exclusive wine cave, the work of an extraordinarily unpredictable serial killer. From the outset, Vail is frustrated by her inability to profile the offender-until she realizes why: the Behavioral Analysis Unit has not previously encountered a killer like him. As Vail and the task force work around the clock to identify and locate him, they're caught in a web knotted with secretive organizations, a decades-long feud between prominent wine families, and widespread corruption that leads Vail to wonder whom, if anyone, she can trust. Meanwhile, as the victim count rises, Vail can't shake the gnawing sense that something isn't right. With the killer's actions threatening the Napa Valley's multi-billion dollar industry, the stakes have never been greater, and the race to find the killer never more urgent. And through it all, a surprise lurks...one that Karen Vail never sees coming. Meticulously researched during years of work with the FBI profiling unit and extensive interviews with wine industry professionals, bestselling author Alan Jacobson delivers a high-velocity thriller featuring the kind of edge-of-your-seat ending that inspired Nelson DeMille to call him "a hell of a writer." |||This book is sold in the US by Sony Electronics Inc. |||This book is sold in Canada by Sony Electronics Inc.

In Jacobson's addictive second Karen Vail thriller (after The 7th Victim), a serial killer spoils the FBI profiler's romantic Napa Valley vacation with boyfriend Det. Robby Hernandez. During a Silver Ridge Estates winery tour, Karen and Robby stumble over the strangled and mutilated corpse of Victoria Cameron, daughter of an influential winemaker. The narcissistic psycho responsible? John Wayne Mayfield (aka the "Napa Crush Killer"), who taunts the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force formed to catch him. As more victims are found, their windpipes crushed and bodies inflicted with postmortem wounds, the motive behind such a killing spree appears connected to conflicts within the Georges Valley American Viticultural Area board. Jacobson jolts standard serial killer fare with some twists concerning the publicity-hungry Crush Killer and insightful peeks into California's wine industry. The action culminates in a shockeroo cliffhanger. (Sept.)

• Published by

  Vanguard

• Publish Date

  September 21, 2009 

• Print ISBN

  1593155484

• eBook ISBN

  9780786751488

• Imprint

  Vanguard

• Filesize

  520.47 KB

• Number of Print Pages*

  400

* Number of eBook pages may differ. Click here for more information.