Point of Balance

Dave Evans, the narrator of this unrelentingly suspenseful thriller from Jurado (The Moses Expedition), explains how he came to be on death row. Once a neurosurgeon at a hospital in Washington, D.C., he was so prominent that the U.S. president’s wife asked him to operate on her husband to remove a brain tumor. Since his own wife’s suicide, Dave has been solely responsible for his seven-year-old daughter, Julia. Arriving home one night, he finds Julia and her babysitter missing. A man who calls himself Mr. White informs Dave in person that he has Julia and will not return her unless Dave makes sure the president dies from the operation. Mr. White shows Dave pictures on an iPad of Julia trapped in an underground pit and says her oxygen supply won’t last past the night of the chief executive’s scheduled surgery. Because his house, office, and cell phone are monitored, Dave can’t contact anyone without risking Julia’s life. He must either find Julia or kill the president. The action builds to a shocking and surprising ending. [em](Aug.) [/em]