When She Was Bad

by Ron Faust

Overview

Christine Terry is rescued after spending 19 days in the Caribbean on a life raft, then mysteriously escapes from the hospital before she can be questioned about the wreck and disappearance of the yacht she was on—and its owners. Cynical but likable reporter Dan Stark is suspicious but obsessed, and soon finds that she is absolutely nothing that she pretends to be. He agrees to help her retrieve a fortune in stolen emeralds from the sunken boat, but when she abandons him on an empty atoll, he vows revenge. Soon, like Chantal (her real name), he learns to change himself and his appearance to fit the situations he meets in pursuit of her. After more than one dangerous engagement with her over the next several years, he discovers a much more personal reason for tracking her down to a final confrontation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620454381
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	01/08/2014
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

RON FAUST is the author of fourteen previous thrillers. He has been praised for his “rare and remarkable talent” (Los Angeles Times), and several of his books have been optioned for films. Before he began writing, he played professional baseball and worked at newspapers in Colorado Springs, San Diego, and Key West.

Read an Excerpt

"I suppose you want to ask me some questions," she said.

"Later, yes. Off the record if you prefer it that way."

"Is there really such a thing as 'off the record'?"

"Oddly enough, there is."

"And do you people honor the promise?"

"Oddly enough, we do."

Her concentration had returned, that intense focusing of her senses upon you, your words, your motions, your eyes, yourself.

I glanced around the room. "Canelli has put you in a pretty crummy place."

"Doug has been very kind to me."

"I know, the clothes, the food, the apartment. Refuge."

"Did you intend that to sound dirty?"

"What? No, no—envious. I would like the opportunity to be very kind to you."

She did not smile. She was beautiful in an exotic way; she appeared, from certain angles, in this shadowy light, to possess an Oriental heritage. And she spoke with an almost imperceptible accent, as if she had not quite succeeded in conquering a childhood speech impediment.

"You know, Christine, your rescue was news, not big news but a sidelight, a solid human interest story. But your disappearance from the hospital—that's real news, hard news now, and things are likely to get rough for you and your family and friends."

"My parents and my brother were killed in an airline crash in Frankfurt five years ago."

"I know, the wire services carried that. Do you have any other relatives?"

"Cousins."

"Friends?"

"Acquaintances."

"Why did you run?"

"Run?"

"From the hospital?"

"Is this on the record?"

"Yes."

"It's none of your business."

"Off the record then."

"It's still none of your business."

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Told in simple, unembellished prose, the story grips and entices, eventually leading to a smashing denouement.”
—Library Journal

“A writer of enormous talent, a stylist to admire and a storyteller of great power.”
 —Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent

“Faust writes beautifully . . . he reminds you of Hemingway and Peter Matthiessen. . . . Faust has it all: lyrical prose, complex characters and provocative plots.”
—Booklist

“Faust’s clear, unadorned prose and his deft, pure characterization ring with the force of Hemingway or Graham Greene.”
—Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Told in simple, unembellished prose, the story grips and entices, eventually leading to a smashing denouement.”
—Library Journal

“A writer of enormous talent, a stylist to admire and a storyteller of great power.”
 —Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent

“Faust writes beautifully . . . he reminds you of Hemingway and Peter Matthiessen. . . . Faust has it all: lyrical prose, complex characters and provocative plots.”
—Booklist

“Faust’s clear, unadorned prose and his deft, pure characterization ring with the force of Hemingway or Graham Greene.”
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher