Deadly Choice

by s Lee Manning

Overview

After her daughter bleeds out from a miscarriage in Texas, Patricia Scott kills the doctor who had failed to perform a medically necessary abortion. Her next target is the attorney who'd advised against the abortion out of personal ambition. Lizzie Vaughn, an investigator with her own dark past, is hired by the doctor's widow after police label her husband's death a suicide. Lizzie's hunt for the killer becomes more complicated and dangerous when she is also tapped to find a young woman with a heart condition who has been kidnapped to prevent her from ending a life-threatening pregnancy and whose fate intertwines with Patricia's plans for revenge. Can Lizzie and Patricia set aside their individual quests to prevent another tragedy?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645995630
Publisher:	Encircle Publications, LLC
Publication date:	09/18/2024
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

An award-winning writer, S. Lee Manning is the author of international thrillers, Trojan Horse, Nerve Attack, and Bloody Soil. In 2023, Bloody Soil won the award for Best Genre Fiction Novel from Independent Publishers of New England. She spent two years as managing editor of Law Enforcement Communications before embarking on a subsequent career as an attorney that spanned from a first-tier New York law firm, to working for the State of New Jersey, to solo practice until retiring from law to write full-time. Manning and her husband J. B. Manning, the award-winning author of Richter the Mighty, do talks, presentations, and YouTube videos as A Killing Couple. Check the website akillingcouple.com for more information. They live in Vermont with their very vocal cats, Xiao and Dmitri. S. Lee Manning is currently working on her next Kolya Petrov thriller. For the latest updates on her novels, follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and visit sleemanning.com.

Editorial Reviews

2024-07-02
In Manning’s novel, a mother seeks revenge on those she blames for her daughter’s death.

Patricia is a middle-aged, single mother whose newlywed only daughter, Ashley, died after being denied a medically necessary abortion. Ashley’s husband, David, is suing Ashley’s doctor, the hospital, and the hospital’s lawyer, Brenda Phillips, who plans to run for office on a conservative, pro-life platform. Patricia plans a more drastic action: murder. But when she uses a stolen identity to become the Phillips family’s housekeeper, Brenda’s uncaring behavior toward her young children sparks Patricia’s motherly instincts, giving rise to conflicted feelings about her intentions. A second plotline involves Brenda’s high-school sweetheart, John Petersen, now a male-chauvinist religious fanatic who believes murder is justifiable to save the unborn. A third thread is devoted to Lisette “Lizzie” Vaughn, a private investigator (Lizzie and her assistant, Murphy Green, a Black, trans ex-cop, have their own complicated backstories), and a fourth follows Isabella Ramirez, a single mother with a heart condition who believes her unplanned second pregnancy could kill her (and whose wimpy ex-husband, Wyatt, has joined John’s group of radical anti-abortionists). The various strands converge when Isabella and her young daughter, Nina, go missing, and her friend Ethan calls Lizzie rather than go to the police (“A young woman should be sympathetic to the plight of a woman whose pregnancy could kill her”). The novel brings together a memorable cast of characters to highlight the potentially deadly consequences of “pro-life” activism as the narrative alternates between the points of view of Patricia, Lizzie, John, Isabella, Brenda, and others. Each character sees only part of the picture, resulting in multiple vectors of suspense that keep the reader hooked. Additionally, seeing each character’s actions through their own individual lenses provides a more nuanced consideration of the social and moral issues that drive their decisions and actions. Manning presents complicated heroes with dark sides and villains who, while they are less multi-dimensional, also have redeeming qualities. The portrayals of Lizzie and Murphy suggest they might be poised for further adventures.

Compelling characters stop at nothing to achieve their ends in this very contemporary thriller.

Kirkus Reviews