Downfall

by Mark Rubinstein

Overview

First, his doppelganger is killed—then it’s his father. Rick Shepherd is being stalked by a murderer.

When Rick Shepherd, a physician, approaches his office on a busy Manhattan street, he finds police cars, an ambulance, and crime scene technicians. He soon learns a passerby was shot three times in the back, murdered at the front door to Rick’s office.

Later that evening while watching the local news, Rick and his fiancee, Jackie, see a photo of the victim—to their horror, the deceased looks identical to Rick.

Two nights later, while making a house call in a Brooklyn apartment building, Rick’s 64-year-old father is shot and killed in the exact same way. Detectives Art Nager and Liz Callaghan are assigned the case, and they launch an investigation. There are no clues leading to the perpetrator.

Even more ominously, someone has been calling Rick and Jackie’s apartment and hanging up. Whoever is targeting Rick must have murdered his father, and they now have Rick in their crosshairs. Nager and Callaghan seem to be making no progress with their investigation. Rick’s quest for the truth draws him into a labyrinth of secrets, past tragedies, and the agonizing pain of lives shattered by a single event. Can he make it out before he meets the same fate as his father?

Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and J. D. Robb

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608096084
Publisher:	Oceanview Publishing
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Mark Rubinstein is an award-winning novelist, physician, and psychiatrist who has written nonfiction and suspense-thriller fiction. His books have won the IPPY Gold Award and two Benjamin Franklin Silver Awards. His Mad Dog Trilogy is under consideration for film or TV series adaptation.

He lives in Connecticut with his wife and as many dogs as she’ll allow in the house.

Editorial Reviews

02/13/2023

Physician Rick Shepherd, the protagonist of this strong thriller set in 1983 New York City from Rubinstein (Assassin’s Lullaby), regrets having joined a Manhattan practice, because its orthopedic surgeon managing partner insists that his colleagues pack their schedules with nonstop patient appointments, even at the cost of providing lower-quality care, to maximize the bottom line. But those work concerns, which lead Rick to question his choice of profession, recede in importance when he returns to the office after a coffee break to find a man has been fatally shot just outside his door. Worse is to come. First, Rick, who was getting hang-up calls at home, learns that the dead man, elementary school teacher Robert Harper, looks enough like himself to be his twin, leading the police to wonder whether Rick was the intended target. Then, just two nights after Robert’s death, Rick learns that his physician father has been shot dead while making a house call. Rubinstein makes Rick a well-rounded and plausible lead, and the action builds to a satisfying ending. Lisa Unger readers will be pleased. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Downfall is a compelling psychological thriller enriched with a superb (eighties New York) sense of time and place. A page-turner that doesn’t sacrifice depth of understanding of the human condition.” —Jonathan Kellerman, New York Times best-selling author

“Downfall is a very classy and gripping high-octane thriller—I could not put it down.” —Peter James, best-selling author

“Tense and suspenseful, this mystery is deepened by its exploration of grief and family dynamics. Surprising and poignant.” —Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author

“Mark Rubinstein’s Downfall is a harrowing murder-mystery wrapped in an enigma. It's whip-smart and crackling-paced. Part medical thriller, part detective story, but ultimately a heart-wrenching story of the fallibility of memory and how past trauma haunts a life. Treat yourself to this story today.” —James Rollins, New York Times best-selling author

“Rubinstein’s Downfall is a psychological killer—a smart, intricate, page-turner.” —Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times best-selling author

“Downfall is a psychological thriller par excellence that follows one man's personal descent into a deconstructive hell. Mark Rubinstein hits the bull's-eye dead center in a scintillating stunner of a tale destined to place him alongside the likes of Joseph Finder, Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner. Downfall reads like a post-modern equivalent of the John D. MacDonald classic Cape Fear, pushing its characters to the brink while pushing readers to finish it in one sitting.” —Jon Land, USA Today best-selling author

* “Part psychological thriller and part police procedural, this novel reads like a TV series worth recording so as not to miss an episode.” —Library Journal (Starred Review)

“An extraordinary thriller which begs to be read in a single setting.” —Jon Land’s The Thrill List

“[In Downfall], Rubinstein makes Rick a well-rounded and plausible lead, and the action builds to a satisfying ending.” —Publishers Weekly

“A riveting suspense thriller of a crime novel, Downfall is another compelling novel from the pen of author Mark Rubinstein.” —Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2023

Set in early 1980s New York City, this thriller by Rubinstein ("Mad Dog" trilogy; The Lovers' Tango) capitalizes on collective memory of the gritty city portrayed each evening in the news, thoroughly grounding readers in time and place. Rick Shepherd is a physician who comes upon an active crime scene at the door to his Manhattan office. While watching the evening news, he learns the identity of the victim, a man he does not know but is his doppelgänger. What seems an unsettling coincidence becomes much more when Rick's father, also a physician, is murdered two nights later in Brooklyn in the same manner as Rick's doppelgänger. Is this the work of a serial killer, or is Rick somehow a target? Menacing phone calls to his house point to a personal vendetta against him. Newly paired detectives Nager and Callaghan catch the case, complicated by the cross-borough connection. Working in parallel, Rick and the detectives attempt to find links between the victims and to Rick himself, while the new partners come to their own realization. VERDICT Part psychological thriller and part police procedural, this novel reads like a TV series worth recording so as not to miss an episode.—Laura A.B. Cifelli

Library Journal