FOREWORD CLARION REVIEWS, 4 STARS
This is a refreshing thriller, with a compassionate protagonist and a complex set of crimes to solve.
Prepare for a roller-coaster ride of a thriller: Nicholas Nash's The Girl at the Bar mixes a beautiful woman, an unemployed Wall Streeter, cancer research, and long-buried secrets together in a novel that zooms along at just the right speed.
Ragnar Johnson is fired from his Wall Street firm over his part in a quick money-making plan and stops into his favorite bar for some liquid consolation. There, he meets the intelligent and beautiful Rebecca; they strike up a conversation, talk for hours, and she goes home with him. When he wakes up the next morning with memories of a wonderful evening, Rebecca's gone, leaving only her bra behind.
Soon after, the NYPD sends detectives to his apartment to ask about his evening guest. Rebecca's been reported missing, Ragnar seems to be the last person to have seen her before she disappeared, and he's now a suspect. Rebecca left a deep impression on him, and he starts his own investigation. The more he learns about her, the more he's driven to find her, and his intelligence and career knowledge in analysis give him the tools to do so.
The Girl at the Bar is a near-future thriller, featuring advancements from current technology in areas of cancer research and computer programming. Excitement and detail run high. Characters are adeptly constructed; none do anything beyond their established behaviors, and backstories, movements, and thoughts are all well plotted. Distinguishing features-as with Ragnar, who has difficulties with speaking-help to differentiate characters from one another.
This is a thriller that reveals its progressions consistently and at all the right times, maintaining the guessing game until the very end. The structure is tight without being spare, and the story moves through time well. Flashbacks are judiciously used, and the final scene revealing the key element gives an elegantly simple resolution with the revelation of one name.
The Girl at the Bar is a refreshing change from the glut of military and political thrillers more often seen in the genre. Atypical characters, a convoluted set of crimes, and its main character's compassion set it apart in a very positive way.
THE US BOOK OF REVIEWS, 5 STARS
"You always have a choice."
A whirlwind one-night stand turns into a bizarre nightmare for Ragnar Johnson after meeting cancer researcher Rebecca Chase at a local New York City bar. Her mysterious disappearance the following morning initiates a multitude of search parties, including Ragnar's personal investigation. Unfortunately, the police keep interrupting Ragnar's quest to find Rebecca since they earmark him as a possible suspect for a couple of different reasons. Besides the fact that he was the last person seen with Rebecca, Ragnar has a bit of a shady past as well as mental issues.
Nash makes Clue seriously look like a kid's game in his page-turning debut. Producing a nail-biting psychological thriller, Nash includes a highly developed and tightly knit cast that will keep readers in a tizzy as they try to figure out "who did what in which room and with what weapon." His narrative, set during a nearly two-week period, continually shifts between present to past events. Nash throws in a flurry of activity along the way. As a result, Nash's story as one can guess is replete with twists and turns galore. Adding to its complexities, Nash builds his narrative by incorporating a constant influx of chapter cliffhangers. He also weaves in a handful of subplots, which ultimately culminates at the book's apex. Amid all the wonderful literary tools, Nash shines a light on the ins and outs of cancer research and pertinent medical information. A fast-paced and gripping read, The Girl at the Bar has the potential of wide audience appeal.
2017-04-03
In Nash's debut thriller, an out-of-work stock trader has a one-night stand with a woman who later vanishes. Ragnar Johnson was recently fired from investment bank Lincoln Myers because of trades that lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Things look up, though, when he meets a beautiful, martini-sipping woman named Rebecca Chase at a bar. He strikes up a conversation with her and finds out that she's a California-based cancer researcher in New York City for a conference, and they eventually end up back at his place. The next morning, Rebecca's gone, but a few days later, police detectives knock on Ragnar's door. It turns out that Rebecca didn't show up at the conference, or anywhere else, and the cops think that Ragnar is responsible. He's taking medication for several mental disorders, including schizophrenia, and he's afraid that he may have done something terrible to Rebecca—something that he can't remember. His own investigation into the matter has unforeseen consequences, as someone he interviews about Rebecca ends up dead. As the detectives try to pin a murder on Ragnar, he finds out that other people have motives to want Rebecca missing (or dead), including an ex-fiance. There's also an intense rivalry between her employer, Atticus Biopharma, and another company, Faust Biopharma, which may involve corporate espionage. Nash tells a gripping but credible tale by complicating seemingly simple tasks for his protagonist. For example, Ragnar manages to find a witness from the night that Rebecca disappeared, but one who doesn't understand English—so Ragnar needs to track down a translator, too. There's a steady sense of unease throughout as murders gradually pile up, interspersed with snippets involving an enigmatic "phantom," whose internal dialogue manically references a driving force called "the void." Ragnar is an appealing lead character, and he eventually garners an unexpected ally. The story is marred by occasional wordiness, though, as in descriptions of a scientist being "virtually almost always" in his lab or Ragnar's boss being "a lifer at Lincoln Myers, having worked there all his life." An often taut and suspenseful tale, told in a straightforward style.
