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Critically acclaimed author Steven James has written four other award-winning Patrick Bowers novels as well as many works of nonfiction. He has a master's degree in storytelling and has taught writing and creative storytelling on three continents. He lives near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee with his wife and three daughters.
Critically acclaimed author Steven James has written more than thirty books, including Story, A Heart Exposed, and the bestselling Patrick Bowers thriller series. He is considered one of the nation's most innovative storytellers and versatile authors, and is a contributing editor to Writer's Digest. Steven lives in Tennessee with his wife and three daughters.
Winner of the 2012 Christian Book Award for Fiction
I scanned the trailer park through the binoculars I'd borrowed from FBI SWAT Team Leader Torres.
Most of the task force had agreed that we should go in light, but FBI Director Wellington didn't want to take any chances. So, even though we hadn't been able to confirm that Travis Reiser was actually in the trailer, she'd ordered a full SWAT team present on site.
Now I was a quarter mile away with Team Leader Antón Torres, a rock-jawed jock I'd worked with on a dozen previous cases, by my side.
Eight inches of crusty snow covered the ground, but mounds at least four feet deep lay pushed up on the shoulders of the roads and at the ends of the parking areas.
A low pressure system was sweeping down from Canada, leaving a foot of snow in its wake. It would arrive tomorrow afternoon, and I was glad we were here today and not in the thick of the storm.
Most of the trailers in the park had paint that was faded or peeling, ripped screen doors, or rusted sheet-metal roofs telegraphing the economic demographic of the people living here. Nearly a third of the sixty trailers had abandoned toys, discarded sleds, or half-melted snowmen sandwiched in the tight quarters between the homes. A lot of children lived in this park. Not good.
The sun edged toward the bottom of the sky, lengthening the late-day shadows around us. Nearby, Torres's snipers waited for his go-ahead to take up position before twilight swallowed the park.
"Well?" he asked.
Once again I directed my gaze at the yellow single-wide trailer where we believed Reiser was staying. "Still no movement."
"His car is there."
"Yes." An eyewitness had seen Reiser enter the trailer last night. I didn't need to tell Antón that. We'd gone over all this earlier.
I handed him the binoculars, and while he studied the trailer I surveyed the area, noting entrance and exit routes and evaluating their relationship to the roads that wandered through this part of the county.
"All right." Torres set down the binoculars. "What are you thinking?"
"I see four possible exit routes." I gestured toward the west end of the park. "There, near the quarry, but if we put Saunders and Haley on the ridge, they'll have that one covered; the main entrance, one sniper can take that. There's a break in the metal fence to the south, but it looks like Reiser would need to cross the field behind his trailer to get there, so, unlikely." I pointed to the east. "I'd say that based on the layout of the park, if he rabbits he'll most likely head south, past that home—"
"With the snow angels."
"Yes."
Torres's jaw was set. "Kids are easier to handle than adults."
"And Reiser is experienced. He'll know it's a lot harder for snipers to take a shot if they see a child in the scope along with the target."
"They'll hesitate."
I nodded.
He studied the park. "I'm telling you, Pat, you have an instinct for this. You should've been SWAT instead of all this theoretical geospatial bull—" He cut himself off mid-curse, no doubt realizing that he was inadvertently turning his compliment into an insult. He corrected himself: "I'm just saying."
"I appreciate it."
Actually, the FBI's SWAT program wouldn't have been a bad choice, but I was born to work for the Bureau's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, or NCAVC, and the last ten years had been a perfect fit for me.
"I'll go in first," I said.
He shook his head. "The director was clear. She wanted us to send in SWAT before you or Jake access the trailer."
"That's not the way to play this." This was not the only thing I disagreed with the director on. "People react in kind. When they feel threatened, they respond accordingly. You go in heavy, he's going to respond to meet the threat. I can talk him out." My experience as a field agent and as a homicide detective before that gave me street cred with Torres, and he didn't argue with me, just took a moment to peer through the binocs again. "Those are trailer homes," I added. "A shoot-out would mean—"
"Yeah. Rounds flying through the walls," he said grimly.
While he considered what I'd said, Agent Jake Vanderveld, the NCAVC profiler who was working this case with me, sauntered toward us. Broad shoulders. Blond hair. Meticulously trimmed mustache. I was thirty-seven, he was a few years younger. He nodded a greeting and slapped Torres on the shoulder.
"Where're we at?" Jake asked.
"Still deciding." Torres lowered the binoculars.
"Play it safe, Antón," I said. "Have people in place, but then—"
He made his decision, shook his head. "No. I'm not comfortable with it. I want my men in there first. You can follow close, right after the team, but I want to secure the premises first."
"Hang on," Jake spoke up, a little too authoritatively. "This is all a game to Reiser. He'll want to taunt Pat." Jake had helped lead us here and knew Reiser's file better than almost anyone. "If we send in a man in civilian clothes, Reiser'll think he has the upper hand. Play to his weakness, his arrogance, and you'll get close."
It was unusual for me and Jake to agree about anything, but apparently this time we were on the same wavelength.
Torres worked his jaw back and forth for a moment, then let out a small sigh. "All right. Listen. I go in with you, Pat. But I enter the trailer first."
"Plainclothes?" I said.
He nodded.
"Agreed." I stood. "And Travis Reiser might be the only key to finding Basque, so tell your team minimum force. We need to take him alive."
"That's not the priority here."
Basque had eluded us for six months now, and if we were right about Reiser, he might flip on Basque, turn him in. "Keep him alive, Antón."
"If this little prick takes any aggressive action, we're dropping him."
Though I wanted more reassurance that the SWAT team would hold off from taking Reiser down, they'd been trained, as I had, to fire at a target until it's no longer a threat. That wasn't the outcome I was looking for, but I knew Torres was right. You don't take chances, especially with someone like Reiser.
"All right," I said. "Let's go."
We all quieted our cells, one of the SWAT guys distributed radios to us, small, nearly invisible patches you wear just behind your ear, and while Torres changed into civilian clothes, I went to get some body armor.
Reiser's pale yellow trailer sixty meters ahead of us.
The air—crisp, bitingly cold.
We knew if we pulled our guns at this point it would increase our perceived threat level, so we kept them holstered as we walked, as we scanned the area. "So, you asked her yet?" Torres said, keeping his voice low.
"Asked her?"
"Lien-hua."
I glanced his way. "Who told you about that?"
"Little birdie."
"Ralph."
"Okay, a big birdie."
I went back to scrutinizing the park. "If you must know. I'm waiting for the right time."
"The right time." "Yes."
"I'm telling you, don't be nervous, bro. You'll do fine."
"I'm not nervous."
"Mm-hmm." He crunched along the road beside me, sturdy, confident but not brash. I realized I was glad he was with me. "Just don't put it off too long. You only live once, you know."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Forty meters to Reiser's trailer.
Though I didn't want to, I eased aside thoughts of Lien-hua and carefully observed the park.
Despite the weather, several small faces were staring at me through the torn screen door of the trailer home that lay directly across the road. Abruptly, a woman pulled the children back into the shadows and swung the screen door, then the trailer door shut.
I didn't like this.
Any of it.
The trailer park brought back a swarm of dark memories from a crime scene fourteen years ago when I was a Milwaukee police detective and was forced to view the kinds of things no one should ever have to see: the body of Jasmine Luecke in her trailer home—or more precisely, what was left of her body, laid out gruesomely in the hallway.
The aftermath of one of Richard Devin Basque's crimes.
There were sixteen victims that we knew of. All young women. He kept them alive for as long as twelve hours while he surgically removed their lungs piece by piece and ate them, making the dying women watch as he did.
When I finally cornered him in an abandoned slaughterhouse in Milwaukee, he was holding his scalpel over his final victim, Sylvia Padilla. She was still alive when I arrived. Which, even after all these years, made the memory even more troubling.
Thirty meters.
I hadn't been able to save her—I doubted anyone could have—but I did manage to apprehend Basque, and he was eventually convicted, sent to prison, and spent thirteen years behind bars, most of it in solitary confinement.
But then, just over a year ago, the Seventh District Court announced Basque was going to receive a retrial after "a careful review of the culpatory DNA evidence and eyewitness testimony pertinent to the case."
And unbelievably, at the conclusion of his retrial last May, he was found not guilty and released from prison with official apologies from the judge, the warden, and even the governor.
Less than a month later, Basque started killing again.
This time with an accomplice.
Fifteen meters to the trailer.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE QUEEN by STEVEN JAMES Copyright © 2011 by Steven James. Excerpted by permission of Revell. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Anonymous
Posted October 24, 2012
Steven James is a wonderful mystery writer. This book ties into previous books well and leaves a great opening for the next one. Ends in a truly unexpected twist!! I only give this book 4 stars instead of 5 because it wasn't as gripping as the previous four, but was still amazing! Can't wait to read the next in the series!
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Posted August 10, 2012
This series has been a real surprise. The Pawn was originally offered as a Free Friday nook book and I have been hooked ever since....
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.CherieG
Posted July 22, 2012
I've really been enjoying this series and am looking forward to the next book.
They are a pretty quick and easy read. Great summer reading!
Anonymous
Posted May 14, 2012
Great book. Kept me on my toes what happens. And the ending is.....
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Posted May 2, 2012
In my mind I'm reviewing all the names of chess pieces and praying James switches to Monopoly to ensure that this series will not end. Patrick Bowers and his step-daughter Tessa are like old friends by now, and I want to keep reading about them for years to come. I love how James tells Patrick's story in first-person, but all the other characters are third-person. It keeps the pace of the story quick, while reminding us who it's about. This book, like his others, reads like a high-adventure action movie. I had my suspicions about how the book would end, but the very last page left me speechless. I only have 2 problems with the stories: there have been so many "bad guys" in his books that it's hard to remember "now, which one was that?" and from the information given, Patrick was really, REALLY young when he worked his first big case, and I find that a bit hard to believe. But then, what do I know? All that aside, this book is one of James' best and will leave you salivating for the next one.
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Posted April 11, 2012
First book I've read by Steven James, loved it and will read more from him.
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Posted April 8, 2012
Each and every book drew me in and held my interest to the end. This last book in the series was everything you would expect and much more! Steven James brings up some very interesting and scary points to think about throughout the book. Can't wait for the next book!
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Posted March 4, 2012
I love this series! Kept me interested all the way though each book, couldn't wait to start the next one and now waiting for the next one to be released.
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Posted February 16, 2012
This book was amazing. I'm sorry to see it end. There was enough about the series that was wrapped up, that I am hoping it's not goodbye to these characters. Now that I have flown through the five books in this series, I'm going to have to be patient and wait for Steven James' next book in the fall.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This past summer I attended a writer¿s conference in Tennessee. Steven James was one of the main speakers, so I picked up The Bishop to read before I went. After all, I wanted to be familiar with the authors who would be leading the conference. After reading the first few chapters I had to ask myself ¿ ¿How in the world did I miss this guy?¿ The writing was tight, the plot complex, the pacing accelerating like a hopped-up Ferrari. However, the story was not for the faint of heart. Graphic and unnerving descriptions of serial murders were front and center. But the protagonist, FBI agent and geospatial intelligence specialist Dr. Patrick Bowers doggedly tracked down the killers as he handled problems on the home front with his intelligent and perceptive stepdaughter, Tessa. Since then I have read all James¿ Patrick Bowers novels. Each one keeping me up late at night turning those pages, although toward the end of each novel I purposely slowed down, not wanting to finish such a well-written book too quickly. The Queen, the latest in the series, does not disappoint. In fact, it¿s the best Bowers book so far. Bowers finds himself in the wintery woods of northern Wisconsin investigating a double homicide, chasing an international assassin, and dealing with an estranged brother. As the snow drifts deeper, Bowser faces eco-terrorists and criminal masterminds with evil agendas all their own. As with all his novels, James expertly weaves the characters from previous books into the plot. If you¿ve read all the books from The Pawn through The Bishop you are definitely familiar with James¿ heroes and villains and the battle of good vs. evil. This conflict is what I appreciate the most. Bowers is indeed the ¿Good Guy¿ and the bad guys are, well, evil and yet James is not willing to allow us to settle for simple solutions, for black and white answers. James¿ characters fight the evil in others and in themselves. Concepts of the evil within each human heart, guilt, and forgiveness are wrestled with sincerely but never heavy-handedly. The Queen is not just a good read, but a well-crafted story with multi-faceted characters, a storyline with a good many hairpin turns, and a plot that not afraid to explore our darker nature and yet unashamedly holds out hope. Steven James has certainly moved this queen into the checkmate position. It is a winner.
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Posted December 5, 2011
I've read all of this series and loved them! Wish he'd write more!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.myhoney1947
Posted November 15, 2011
WOW, this did not disappoint. Love the whole Patrick Bowers series and its characters. What a plot twister Steven James is. Awaiting the next installment.
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Posted October 19, 2011
I've read all of the Patrick Bowers Files series. All are excellent. Can't wait for the next one.
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Posted October 14, 2011
Any Patrick Bowers fan has got to have this book! Keeps you on the edge of your seat and leaves you dying for the next book. Keep them coming!!
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Posted October 13, 2011
For those looking for an interesting series, check out the Patrick Bowers stories. This one had a good ending, and left us anticipating the next one. Good story line and the characters mature a bit in each book. Thank you Steven James for great characters and stories.
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Posted October 11, 2011
I Also Recommend:
Another unputdownable book from the great storyteller Steven James. As always there were several twists and turns to keep me guessing through the end of the story. I read it over a night shift at work and never got sleepy thanks to the book.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I enjoyed this latest episode in the Patrick Bowers series. It had suspense, the progression of his romance, and his relationship with his teenage daughter. The action was well-written, the characters fleshed out, and the plot obviously thought out in detail. I had fun reading it, and could rarely put it down.
The only problem I had was that I'd read it before, mostly. The previous two books were very similar; Patrick Bowers, master investigator, doesn't understand how women work; whether his beloved or his daughter, he makes stupid mistakes repeatedly, which lands him in hot water. He obviously doesn't learn from these mistakes in any big way, and his loved ones and co-workers haven't seemed to have learned to expect this from him. They aren't cardboard characters; they're nuanced and interesting; but they are fairly static. The situation changes around them, the plot changes, but Mr. James' characters haven't grown or learned much in the past two books, with the exception of Bowers' daughter exploring religion as a source of comfort and healing, inexplicably.
The plot is familiar, but that's not a big complaint. There's a touch of Deus ex Machina to the story, and it is convenient that Patrick's handy-dandy devices break at convenient times, but that's okay; it's a fiction story, so a little bit of manhandling of the plot by the author is to be expected. Just the same, I'm probably going to be a little slower to buy the next book in the series, simply because it isn't quite as fresh and novel as once it was.
CaraPutman
Posted October 2, 2011
Steven James is my favorite thriller writer, and The Queen did not disappoint.
Patrick Bower is back--this time in Wisconsin where he is tracking the serial killer he first put away as a detective. Now a FBI geographic profiler, he thinks he's closed back in on the man. Before he can close that case he's sent to serve as the lead FBI agent on what looks like a domestic murder-suicide. But things go much deeper than the surface. Before long he is tangled in a web that tangles the past and present and the two cases.
Like his others, The Queen is richly layered. The plots mix and mingle. Tessa, his stepdaughter is back, dealing with ongoing issues from prior cases. Then there's Patrick's brother. His colleagues. Past cases colliding with current cases. All the twists pulled me through the pages. The short chapters make it easy to think just one more page, one more scene. And Patrick and Tessa are familiar characters I like to spend time with. There's a gut-level honesty and vulnerability in the way they act that makes them resonate.
While there are deaths, my husband and I noticed they are less graphic than past novels. These books aren't for the faint of heart though.
Can't wait for the next book!
Steven James' books are not for the faint of heart. If you have trouble sleeping at night I might not reccomend them but for anyone who loves to get your pulse pounding and reading books is all about sitting on the edge of your seat - then the Patrick Bowers books are made for you!
To call what Patrick Bowers goes through a thriller is an understatement. There are so many layers to this story that it is impossible to even try and give you a heads up. It wouldn't be fair to the reader in you to try and clue you in too much anyway. Most of the main characters are back in this next installment and doing what they do best. Racing against time to try and avoid death and destruction with only partial success. The dialogue is excellent and I love the way the conversations play out between the characters with Patrick's biting wit keeping the pace moving right along. But the real scene stealers are the depths of the storylines, the layers that Steven James weaves along and intertwines. He never leaves any stone unturned and I love how he lets Patrick figure things out.
I love, love, love the Patrick Bowers series. But I know they aren't for everyone, I reccomended them to my sister-in-law and it was too much for her. That's okay, I will eat up every installment and cry the day I find out the series is over.
AAR
Posted September 30, 2011
THE QUEEN by Steven James is another amazing Patrick Bowers Thriller suspense set in present day San Antonio,Texas,to Woodborough,Wisconsin,to Cairo,Egypt.This is the #5 in "A Patrick Bowers Files" series,see "The Pawn","The Rook","The Knight",and "The Bishop".But "The Queen" can be read as a stand alone.Full of suspense,intrigue, murder,conspiracy,secrets,Cold War secrets buried for years,Middle East tensions,danger,and a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.Patrick,Lien-Hua,and Tessa chase across the country with a heart pounding action. This is a fast paced story from beginning to end.It is full of action and danger. Once again this author has written an awesome suspense/thriller with characters who will keep you coming back for more.A must read for all suspense,thriller,action,and adventure readers. This book was received for review from the publisher.Details can be found at Revell,a division of Baker Publishing Group.
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Overview
"Steven James continues to raise the bar in suspense writing. The Queen takes readers to a new level of suspense and is the best book in the Patrick Bowers series hands down!"--Suspense Magazine
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