DEAD FOR LIFE

Memory is the tie that binds NYPD detective Conrad Voort and killer Wendall Nye in this evocative, New York City–steeped thriller (the fourth in Black's well-received series) revolving around questions of personal responsibility and unforeseen consequences. After murdering a beautiful travel agent, Nye leaves the following message: "YOUR FAULT CONRAD. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. BIRTHDAY BOY. THREE MORE BY MIDNIGHT." Voort, the golden boy of an old New York family, has everything; Nye, a former high school teacher, has nothing—his life has been a shambles ever since a mysterious incident six years ago. What is the connection between the desperate killer and the "richest cop in New York"? Nye, as he continues his agenda of death, makes it clear that the blame for his spree stems directly from some past error on Voort's part. Battling the condemnation of his superiors, the suspicions of his fellow policemen and a media out for blood, Voort races through the city on the heels of the killer as the clock ticks and the body count climbs. The well-drawn backstory of Nye's terrible pain and loss—linked to city corruption and graft—is as compelling in its own way as Voort's history of family wealth and privilege. Black (All the Dead Were Strangers; The Broken Hearts Club; Irresistible) upends the standard conventions of good cop versus bad killer and in the process paints a vivid picture of day-to-day life in New York. Only a weak ending mars what is another strong performance by a crime writer who has created an unusual and realistically fallible police protagonist, one readers will follow for years to come. Agent, Esther Newberg. (June 2)