The Nightmare Thief (Jo Beckett Series #4)

by Meg Gardiner

Overview

From award-winning author Meg Gardiner, co-author of Michael Mann’s Heat 2

IGNORE THE SCREAMS. IT’S JUST PART OF THE GAME.

Autumn wants something special for her twenty-first birthday. She has the sports car, the apartment, and the private college. Now she wants excitement. She’s going to get it. Daddy has signed up Autumn and her friends for the “ultimate urban reality” game: a simulated drug deal, jailbreak, kidnapping, and manhunt. Authorities know all about it.

That’s why they’re disregarding the cries for help. How convenient for a gang of players taking it to the next level. They’re playing for real. When forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett and her partner, Gabe Quintana, are pulled into the game, the stakes are raised. After all, nobody wants to spoil Autumn’s fun. And nobody is leaving this party alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451235961
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/05/2012
Series:	Jo Beckett Series , #4
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	4.22(w) x 6.79(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Meg Gardiner previously practiced law and taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Originally from Southern California, she now lives with her family in London. The Dirty Secrets Club is her first novel published in the U.S. She will be promoting The Dirty Secrets Club on a national tour this summer.

Editorial Reviews

Bringing her two series leads together for the first time, Gardiner pits forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett (The Dirty Secrets Club) and reporter Evan Delaney (Kill Chain) against a kidnapping team that's out for something more than ransom in this strong thriller. When Evan contacts Jo in San Francisco for help with a story on the suspicious death of attorney Phelps Wylie, whose body was found in a mine in the Sierras, Jo agrees to conduct a psychological autopsy on Wylie, including poking around the mine with her pararescueman boyfriend, Gabe Quintana. Back in San Francisco, Autumn Reiniger embarks on an urban reality game run by Edge Adventures, a 21st birthday present from her father, the director of a hedge fund, Reiniger Capital, but is soon kidnapped, along with her friends, by a group impersonating the Edge crew, raising the stakes. In the Sierras, Jo and Gabe run into Autumn and her kidnappers, who are demanding million for her safe return—and Gardiner really gets the adrenaline pumping. (July)

Publishers Weekly

When forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett and her partner, Gabe Quintana, in the course of an investigation come across six teenagers being corralled by a suspicious group of men for a "wilderness adventure," she senses that something is amiss. Far from being reassured when the teenagers tell her that they are simply part of a mock kidnapping designed to celebrate spoiled rich girl Autumn Reiniger's entrance into adulthood, Jo is anxious to depart and investigate further. Before they can leave, confusion erupts, and Jo and Gabe become unwitting members of the birthday group. They have ample experience surviving the elements, luckily, because they must formulate a daring plan to rescue the teenagers and unmask the players behind the kidnapping before it is too late. VERDICT In her eighth novel, Gardiner (The Dirty Secrets Club) spins a thrilling, fast-paced tale about what can happen when we tempt fate. Fans of Iris Johansen will enjoy Jo Beckett's propensity for knocking down trouble and landing squarely on her feet. [See Prepub Alert, 12/21/10.]—Natasha Grant, New York

Library Journal

When a spoiled rich girl and her friends find their urban reality game has turned into a high-stakes kidnapping, psychiatrist Jo Beckett and her hunky love interest, Gabe Quintana, find themselves in the middle of it. The duo must help the city slickers survive in the California wilderness while they all try to escape from the deadliest adventure of their lives. Susan Ericksen's talent shines in this latest Jo Beckett offering. Ericksen is unsurpassed in her ability to become a character, and she convincingly provides distinctive and perfectly selected voices for the various characters. From whiny college kids to international financiers, psychopaths, and a pistol-packin' mama, Ericksen delivers an engaging performance. An audio winner. A.C.P. 2012 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

JULY 2011 - AudioFile

Bay Area forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett's fourth case (The Liar's Lullaby, 2010, etc.) finds her caught in the middle of a fantasy crime spree turned deadly.

Hedge-fund king Peter Reiniger is no ordinary father, and his 21st-birthday present to his thoroughly spoiled daughter Autumn is no ordinary gift. He's hired Edge Adventures to orchestrate a weekend scenario in which Autumn becomes the Queen of Crime and five of her best buds get to play the roles of her lawyer, her accomplices and her nemesis. But not even Edge's reputation for elaborate planning can prevent rogue financier Dane Haugen from stepping into the middle of this latter-day fairy tale and, motivated by some obscure harm he suffered at Reiniger's hands, kidnapping Autumn for real for $20 million. Jo and her main man, Sgt. Gabe Quintana, are on their way back from attorney Phelps Wylie's final resting place—an abandoned gold mine in which, Jo quickly rules, he certainly didn't commit suicide—when they stop to play Good Samaritan and are rewarded by getting taken captive along with Autumn and her friends. Not enough complications for you? Another freelance kidnapper plans to grab Autumn and company from Haugen's clutches, ransom Autumn and make short work of the supporting cast—one of whom has the bright idea of jumping the bad guys, turning a routine fake-kidnapping-turned-real into a fight for survival against armed criminals, rattlesnakes and every other wilderness peril you can imagine.

The mind-bogglingly improbable setup and the number of wild cards in the mix guarantee endless plot twists, most of them so diabolically engineered that you'll forget how wafer-thin the characters are.

Kirkus Reviews