Trust Me
| Trust Me | |
| Novel [2009] | |
| Abbott, Jeff | |
| Sphere (2009) | |
| Rating: | *** |
| Tags: | Mystery |
Luke Dantry tragically lost his parents when he was a teenager - his father was murdered by a crazed operative, his mother died in a terrible accident. Brought up by his stepfather, Luke now works with him on his research, monitoring extremist groups on the internet.
Yet within the seemingly harmless world of the internet lie untold dangers. And Luke suddenly feels the full force of them when he is kidnapped at gunpoint in an airport car park. As an ordinary guy, someone who has led a blameless life, he has no idea why he has been targeted. He only knows that he has to escape - somehow.
But to escape he must learn to trust no one and nothing, and to overcome an enemy more powerful than he could possibly realise - an enemy who knows more than he does about the fate of his parents…
Luke Dantry, while working as an intern for his stepfather's think-tank in Austin, Tex., stumbles on a group of home-grown terrorists known as the Night Road (because of their nocturnal Internet chatter) in this furiously paced if less than compelling thriller from Abbott (
Collision
). The Night Road has held several warmup activities—plane crashes, train derailments, chemical explosions—and is now gearing up for Hellfire, the code name for a secret mission that's supposed to be the mother of all terrorist acts. As Dantry scrambles from city to city (Houston, Chicago, New York) to thwart Hellfire and bring its planners to justice, the story strikes a number of false notes—convenient plot twists, hard-to-swallow dialogue and a main character who all too easily goes from wimpy grad student to brawny crime fighter over the course of just a few days. Still, Abbott has an instinctive feel for how to draw adrenaline from words on a page.
(July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"There is no question: Jeff Abbott is the new name in suspense." Harlan Coben"
Trust Me
Novel [1]
Jeff Abbott
Little, Brown Book Group (2009)
Tags: Mystery
On the new digital battlefront in the war on terror, one man will learn to negotiate the extremely thin line between unconditional trust and unspeakable betrayal.
Luke Dantry tells people he has a job on the cutting edge of the war on terror-only he knows it’s nowhere near as adrenaline-filled as he makes it sound. Luke’s nightly task working for his stepfather’s Washington think tank: Go undercover from the anonymous safety of his computer and infiltrate Web-based, home-grown terrorist networks, cataloging the screen names and details of a motley collection of rage-filled, mentally suspect, and mostly impotent loners he comes to call the Black Road. Now and then he encounters someone who may have the capability to make good on his threats, but Luke figures that the vast majority of his targets are simply frustrated malcontents using the Internet as an empty soapbox.
When Luke is kidnapped at gunpoint, without warning, and left for dead in an isolated cabin deep in the woods, he realizes it must be related to his work, and that the Black Road is far more organized than he thought-and much closer to home than he could have ever imagined. After a daring escape, with both the terrorist group and their enemies on his heels, he must quickly assemble a complex puzzle of convoluted histories and motives, where the final pieces extend deep into his own past-and where Luke himself may hold the key to stopping the Black Road before their spectacular plans come to horrible fruition.
From Publishers Weekly
Luke Dantry, while working as an intern for his stepfather’s think-tank in Austin, Tex., stumbles on a group of home-grown terrorists known as the Night Road (because of their nocturnal Internet chatter) in this furiously paced if less than compelling thriller from Abbott (
Collision
). The Night Road has held several warmup activities—plane crashes, train derailments, chemical explosions—and is now gearing up for Hellfire, the code name for a secret mission that’s supposed to be the mother of all terrorist acts. As Dantry scrambles from city to city (Houston, Chicago, New York) to thwart Hellfire and bring its planners to justice, the story strikes a number of false notes—convenient plot twists, hard-to-swallow dialogue and a main character who all too easily goes from wimpy grad student to brawny crime fighter over the course of just a few days. Still, Abbott has an instinctive feel for how to draw adrenaline from words on a page.
(July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“There is no question: Jeff Abbott is the new name in suspense.” Harlan Coben”
| Trust Me |
| Jeff Abbott |
| Little, Brown Book Group (2011) |
Luke Dantry tragically lost his parents when he was a teenager - his father was murdered by a crazed operative, his mother died in a terrible accident. Brought up by his stepfather, Luke now works with him on his research, monitoring extremist groups on the internet.
Yet within the seemingly harmless world of the internet lie untold dangers. And Luke suddenly feels the full force of them when he is kidnapped at gunpoint in an airport car park. As an ordinary guy, someone who has led a blameless life, he has no idea why he has been targeted. He only knows that he has to escape - somehow.
But to escape he must learn to trust no one and nothing, and to overcome an enemy more powerful than he could possibly realise - an enemy who knows more than he does about the fate of his parents…
Jeff Abbott
is the internationally bestselling author of thirteen novels, including
Adrenaline, Panic, Fear
and
Run
. He is a three-time nominee for the Edgar Award. He lives in Austin with his family.
A Kiss Gone Bad
Black Jack Point
Cut and Run
Panic
Fear
Run
Adrenaline
Published by Hachette Digital ISBN: 978-0-74812-970-6
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public
domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.
Copyright (c) 2009 Jeff Abbott All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission in writing of the publisher.
Hachette Digital
Little, Brown Book Group
100 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DY
For Travis Wilhite
because there is always hope
‘I wouldn’t mind being a Pawn, if only I might join.’
- Alice, in Lewis Carroll’s
Through the Looking Glass
Contents
ENTER OUR JEFF ABBOTT COMPETITION
The old man had spent his entire life surrounded by unimaginable power and wealth - except for today. He was dressed as if for regional theater, playing the part of a retiree who’d failed to save for the long stretch of old age, wearing decrepit khakis and a threadbare jacket, mud sliming the heels of his boots, sitting on a park bench in the gray London afternoon, tossing crumbs to the pigeons. The crumbs were tiny, the size of diamonds.
The man in the gray suit, standing near him, pretending to talk on a cell phone, didn’t look at the old man; instead he watched the people strolling in the park, his eye keen for an enemy. A young couple walking hand-in-hand; two teenage boys ambling, trying to look cool and tough and failing; a well-dressed mother pushing a stroller, laughing on a cell phone, tucking a blanket around a baby; a pair of old ladies, clutching purses close to their coats, one talking in monologue, the other listening and nodding. No danger here.
The man in the gray suit fought the urge to smile at the disguise the old man had chosen but to laugh would be fatal. One had to indulge people with money. And one did not laugh at a billionaire, no matter how eccentric.
‘I hardly recognized you, Your Majesty,’ the man in the gray suit said. He cast his gaze around the park again, the silent phone close to his ear.
‘Look at them go to war,’ the old man said in soft Arabic as the pigeons battled over the bread, pecking at each other and the bare ground. ‘They dance for me. As if I have strings on their wings.’ He threw another scattering of food to the flock’s left, laughed as they scurried for the crumbs.
The birds aren’t the only ones, the man in the gray suit thought. But he waited for the old man to speak again. The old man loved the sound of his own words, like most bullies.
‘All is prepared?’ the old man asked.
‘Yes,’ he said. Nearly so would have been a more exact answer but the old man had never cared for details. Everything would be ready soon enough. Then he could start to change the world.