Publishers Weekly
In Jacobson's complex fourth novel featuring FBI profiler Karen Vail (after Velocity), San Francisco Police Inspector Lance Burden turns to the D.C.-based Vail for help in solving the murder of 82-year-old Maureen Anderson, who was tortured and brutalized at her house in the city's Marina district. Anderson's husband, William, is later found dead, tied to the base of a column in the Palace of Fine Arts. Other similar murders rapidly follow. Insp. Robert Friedberg, reporter Clay Allman, and Roxxann Dixon, "an investigator with the Napa County District Attorney's office," lend assistance as Vail becomes increasingly frustrated by the rising body count and the killer's taunts. Alternating chapters detail the bad luck tale of prison inmate Walton MacNally, from the murder of his wife in 1955 to his career as a thief and armed robber. That the two cases merge will come as no surprise, but Jacobson manages to tantalize with each segment and pull off a stunning surprise ending. (July)
From the Publisher
"Inmate 1577 is a grand slam that ranks Alan Jacobson on par with such literary luminaries as Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, and James Patterson. This one will be tough to top.” —John Wills, New York Journal of Books“Jacobson’s latest Vail novel continues his streak of terrific mind-bending thrillers. The story line seems straightforward at first, but when the twists come, even the most hard-core thriller fans will not figure everything out. Jacobson should be mandatory reading for the James Patterson crowd; this is an essential addition to any fiction collection.” —Library Journal“In my 27 years of working at USP Leavenworth as a Correctional Officer and Institution Historian, no other book has painted the story of what it’s like to survive behind those 40 foot walls better than Inmate 1577. Hats off to Alan Jacobson for his relentless research and desire to bring credibility to an already fascinating story!” —Kenneth M. LaMaster, author and retired Leavenworth historian“Inmate 1577 is everything you’d come to expect from an Alan Jacobson novel, a page-turning thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat for hours . . . his previous books were gripping thrill rides, but with Inmate 1577 Jacobson has taken it to another level.” —Andrew Gulli, managing editor, The Strand Magazine“Alan Jacobson has already distinguished himself in the crowded serial killer sub-genre of thrillers. But his smooth and seasoned approach reaches new heights in Inmate 1577, a stunner of a tale that is structurally flawless. Inmate 1577 moves deliberately along a circuitous path lined with secrets, surprises and subterfuge that have been a staple of the genre . . . Jacobson builds the suspense to a pulsating crescendo that will ultimately bring the walls down upon Vail, not quite literally but in immensely satisfying fashion.” —Author Magazine“Inmate 1577 is another rippin’ good ‘Alan Jacobson read’! Jacobson researches his books like a good newspaper reporter, and then pushes the envelope into reality more thoroughly than the typical crime novel could ever allow.” —Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle“A powerful thriller, brilliantly conceived and written.” —Clive Cussler, New York Times–bestselling author“If you like puzzles and conundrums and the slowly unraveling of clues, you will enjoy Inmate 1577. All the pieces are there for the reader to put together, but watch out . . . there might be a surprise or two. This is an excellent novel . . . a very worthwhile read.” —Stephen L. Brayton, Suspense Magazine“Alan Jacobson has captured the desolate solitude that distinguished Alcatraz as the toughest US penitentiary that housed the worst of the worst. Inmate 1577 is not only a riveting read with a Hitchcock-type ending I never saw coming, but it possesses an authenticity that brought back memories from my many years on the Rock.” —George DeVincenzi, Alcatraz correctional officer (1950–1957)
