Showing results by author "Bill Eidson" in All Categories

No one believes Matt Coulter's story of his foundered sailboat, a life raft adrift at night, and a rescue turned kidnapping - least of all, the police. Jack and Sarah don't either, at first. But they reluctantly take the case, and the further they follow its twists and turns, the more convinced they become that the missing children are still alive. At least for now.

Ex-DEA agent Jack Merchant is living out his precarious retirement on the docks of Charlestown, Massachusetts, surrounded by the revenge-minded dealers and punks he used to put away. All he's got is his sloop, LILA, but soon enough he gets a visit from the repo man. Except the repo man's a woman, Sarah Ballard. Her proposition: They've got a week to track down a rich couple who've disappeared with their yacht. Find it, and Merchant can keep his boat. The trouble is they're not the only ones looking.

The story opens in the Virgin Islands. Rob McKenna is a good man who has lost much: His beloved daughter was killed the year before. McKenna's wife leaves him, forcing him to take on a crewmember, Tom Cain, to help sail the boat back to Boston. But Cain brings trouble on board and forces McKenna to make a desperate choice. "Do this one thing," Cain says. "Do this and you'll have a life." All McKenna has to do is lie. And soon... kill.

When Boston-based dive shop owner Rod Konrad runs short of money, he decides to share his apartment. Bette, his girlfriend, isn't ready to move in, so he places an ad for a roommate. Brendan is nice enough - as nice as a stranger invading your home can be. He certainly takes to Rod. But isn't he trying too hard? He talks like Rod, acts like him, and is always just a little too close. Left unchecked, he'll not only steal Rod's clothes - but his life.

Nine-year-old Janine Stearns and her parents stop at a convenience store to buy ice cream. Moments later, a masked gunman walks in and robs the store, shooting the clerk and kidnapping Janine. What begins as a seemingly random act of violence quickly becomes a world of dark interconnections and horrifying possibilities. Nothing is as it appears. It is left to Ross Stearns, Janine's uncle and guardian, to rescue Janine and end the nightmare of senseless violence.

Two corporate opponents: One, Steve Dern, becomes CEO; the other, Geoff Mann, ends up on the street, where his taste for extreme sports and a chance encounter with a desperate young prostitute show him that murder delivers the best rush of all. Then, Geoff thrusts Steve into a dangerous game with Steve's wife, Lisa, as the prize. To save her, Steve must find a way to make Geoff feel pain. To experience fear. He must scare a man who has just discovered how much he likes to kill.

Ben Harris is a talented news photographer whose job puts him where the action is - a job that costs him his marriage and his family. His ex-wife marries his editor and boss. For the sake of his two children, Harris swallows his pride and offers his hand in friendship. Then his best friend is killed by the blast of a concealed bomb in Harris' surveillance van. He looks into the stories Gallagher was investigating to find the killer - and the target.

Riley Burke has it all: a successful advertising agency, a beautiful house, a trim sailboat, and a gorgeous wife. But no longer sure of his wife's love, he begins an affair, the first in their 10-year marriage. As Riley and his would-be lover wait on the dock in Newport Harbor for the launch to his boat, a young man nearby is attacked by a brutal thug. When Riley intervenes, he finds himself inextricably drawn into a chain of events that will change his life forever; he finds himself, suddenly, in dangerous waters.