The Four-Night Run

Set in an unnamed “old shore town on the eastern coast,” this thought-provoking dystopian thriller from Edgar-finalist Lashner (Guaranteed Heroes) pits defense lawyer J.D. Scrbacek against unseen and unknown enemies out to destroy him. Despite the evidence against brutal killer Caleb Breest, Scrbacek successfully defends Breest in court. Following the verdict, Scrbacek’s parked car is blown up, killing legal intern Ethan Brummel, and Scrbacek finds himself at the beginning of a four-night run for survival. Scrbacek, who doesn’t know why he’s being hunted, tries to figure out who’s after him. Possible foes include Joey Torresdale, Breest’s number-two man, and Trent Fallow, a PI recommended by Torresdale. When Scrbacek is wounded in an attack that destroys his office, he flees to the rundown neighborhood known as Crapstown, where he meets a number of seedy characters who distrust him. Lashner melds a nightmarish vision of a city riven by greed and poverty with serious discussions of criminal law and its practice and its corruption. [em]Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Associates. (May) [/em]