Downfall

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Overview

She is a good mother. She will do what she must to ensure that her daughter Diana has a perfect life, just as perfect as the one they've led for the past seven years.

No matter who has to die.

DOWNFALL

The simplest beginnings can unravel a life. For Sam Capra, it is the moment a beautiful young woman walks into his San Francisco bar.

Sam doesn't want trouble. An ex-CIA agent,...

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Downfall

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More About This Book

Overview

She is a good mother. She will do what she must to ensure that her daughter Diana has a perfect life, just as perfect as the one they've led for the past seven years.

No matter who has to die.

DOWNFALL

The simplest beginnings can unravel a life. For Sam Capra, it is the moment a beautiful young woman walks into his San Francisco bar.

Sam doesn't want trouble. An ex-CIA agent, his only desire now is to build a quiet, peaceful home for himself and his infant son. But Diana Keene is no ordinary customer. She's pursued by two gunmen, and when she finds Sam, she whispers an urgent, desperate plea: "Help me."

And without any warning, Sam is thrust into a fight for his life. For Diana is being hunted by a deadly network-a shadowy alliance of select, influential men and women who use their connections, their authority, and their wealth to bend the world to their will. Now, this network aims its relentless fury against the man interfering with their plans to seize a new level of power: Sam Capra.

Threatened on all sides, Sam has only one hope to survive the network's all-consuming attack and return to his life with his son....he must destroy the man who owns the people who run the world.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Abbott packs a lifetime of thrills and suspense into a mere five days in his convoluted third novel featuring former CIA agent Sam Capra (after 2011’s The Last Minute). Soon after terrified Diana Keene hurries into Sam’s San Francisco bar pleading for help, two sinister-looking men enter the place looking for her. One of them pulls a knife and attacks Sam, but in the ensuing fight the thug suffers a fatal stab wound. Sam learns Diana is being sought by agents of John Belias, who controls a widespread network of powerful and deadly agents, including Diana’s mother, Janice Keene. Abbott excels at spinning complex webs of intrigue combining psychological twists and abundant action, though the sheer number of players and their ultimate loyalties can be difficult to track. Sam is both pawn and knight in an exciting chess game that moves from San Francisco to Portland, Ore.; Denver; Las Vegas; and Chicago. Agent: Peter Ginsberg, Curtis Brown. (July)
Associated Press Staff
"Extremely compelling . . . a thriller that will get even the most jaded reader's pulse racing . . . a grand slam home run."
Booklist
"Like Adrenaline, this is a fast-paced thriller with a likable, morally conflicted hero. Sam is in a difficult situation, seemingly forced to commit murder to find his son, and--this is a testament to Abbott's skills as a storyteller--we really don't know whether he will follow through. The book ends on an upbeat note, giving Sam a certain amount of closure. Still, let's hope Abbott isn't through with Sam. He's a very well drawn character, and it would be nice to see him again."
USA TODAY
"Twisty, turny, and terrific."
Entertainment Weekly
"[An] edgy, seat-of-your-pants spy caper."
Kirkus Reviews
Nothing in Sam Capra's three short years in the CIA could have prepared him for the series of high-stakes conspiracies he's encountered since then (The Last Minute, 2012, etc.), including this tale of a ruthless Mephisto who promises to fulfill his minions' dreams if only they'll kill at his command. Since getting forced out of the CIA, Sam Capra, 26, has opened dozens of bars around the world. So it's actually statistically likely that he'd be sitting in one of them, San Francisco's The Select, when a pair of strangers tries to kill a young woman before his eyes. Ever chivalrous, Sam comes to Diana Keene's aid, and by the end of the episode, Grigori Rostov is dead and Glenn Marchbanks seriously wounded. Diana's troubles spring from those of her mother, whose successful public relations firm is founded on a fateful deal she cut with John Belias, a modern-day Prince of Darkness. For a price to be named later, Belias arranges through his network of intermediaries for the failure of his associates' business rivals. In Janice Keene's case, the current price is the assassination of three well-known figures in Portland, Las Vegas and Chicago. Though her oncologist has already pronounced her death sentence, Janice soldiers on in the fatuous hope of leaving her daughter a better life. Diana begins to make inquiries that bring her to the attention of Belias' other assassins. And this is just for starters. There'll be many more betrayals, double crosses, noble/dumb sacrificial gestures, orders from A to B to eliminate C, false suspicions that specific killers have killed people that they don't happen to have killed and, the most original feature here, violent deaths of people readers thought were keepers. The criminal mastermind manages to be both repellent and uninteresting, and it's hard to root for anyone, including Sam, when everyone's basically under compulsion to eliminate everyone else. Maybe Abbott and his hapless hero should move on to a new formula.
San Antonio Express-News
"The Adrenaline rush that won't stop."
Associated Press on The Last Minute
"Abbott is one of the best thriller writers in the business, and he delivers action and complex characters in an explosive cocktail. The next Capra novel cannot come fast enough."
Booklist on The Last Minute
"Like Adrenaline, this is a fast-paced thriller with a likable, morally conflicted hero. Sam is in a difficult situation, seemingly forced to commit murder to find his son, and--this is a testament to Abbott's skills as a storyteller--we really don't know whether he will follow through. The book ends on an upbeat note, giving Sam a certain amount of closure. Still, let's hope Abbott isn't through with Sam. He's a very well drawn character, and it would be nice to see him again."
USA TODAY on Adrenaline
"Twisty, turny, and terrific."
Entertainment Weekly on Adrenaline
"[An] edgy, seat-of-your-pants spy caper."
Associated Press on Adrenaline
"Extremely compelling . . . a thriller that will get even the most jaded reader's pulse racing . . . a grand slam home run."
Library Journal
Abbott's third Sam Capra thriller (after Last Minute) is almost nonstop action with bullets and fists flying throughout and a steadily mounting body count to match. Capra is in San Francisco, checking up on the bar he owns there as cover for his clandestine work for the shadowy Round Table. When a beautiful young woman runs into his bar, chased by two men, Capra chivalrously charges to her rescue. After the melee, a Russian lies dead by Capra's hand and the girl and her other pursuer have vanished. In trying to discover the girl's whereabouts and her pursuer's identity, Capra uncovers another secret network, whose leader has deadly plans in motion at the highest level, and it is up to Capra and his Round Table contacts to thwart him. VERDICT There are enough fights and chases for several blockbuster movies in this thriller, which should please adrenaline junkies. Those seeking something deeper should look elsewhere.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Lib., Wisconsin Rapids
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781455528431
  • Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
  • Publication date: 7/16/2013
  • Pages: 453
  • Sales rank: 488
  • Product dimensions: 6.44 (w) x 9.14 (h) x 1.48 (d)

Meet the Author

Jeff Abbott
Jeff Abbott is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirteen novels. His books include the Sam Capra thrillers Adrenaline and The Last Minute (winner of an International Thriller Writers Award), as well as the standalone novels Panic, Fear, and Collision. Jeff is a three-time nominee for the Edgar award. He lives in Austin with his family. You can visit his website at www.jeffabbott.com.
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Customer Reviews

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Good and enjoyable read

    A good follow up to the other books in the Sam Capra series. It was satisfying and fast moving enough for me to plow through in a day. It has left me wanting another Sam Capra story.

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