THE KILLING MOON: A Novel

New York, New York, U.S.A. : Scribner, 2007. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Mint/New. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. The crack of a handgun shatters the silence of a warm summer night...A notorious local felon and former child magician vanishes, seemingly without a trace...A corrupt police force applies a stranglehold to a failing town...An ailing old man hatches a last-ditch plan to save the police department he once headed, and the community he still loves...An outsider arrives, bearing a simple recipe for death that could destroy them all... Buried deep in the rural backcountry of New England, the town of Black Falls isn't dying so much as quietly fading away. No supermarket. No traffic lights. No ATM. No hope.Donald Maddox, a man with no law enforcement background -- indeed, no background at all -- has returned to his hometown after fifteen years to find himself employed as an auxiliary patrolman on a local police force known to inspire more fear than trust in its citizenry.nWhen a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this forgotten place, triggering the arrival of state police homicide detectives and a town-wide manhunt, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide. As the tightly wound mystery that is Maddox's past begins to unravel, he becomes ensnared in a deadly conspiracy that ultimately threatens his life, as well as the lives of those nearest him. From its opening pages until its haunting final image, THE KILLING MOONdisplays the author's trademark gift for soul-deep characterization, crisp pacing, and unflinching realism. Author of THE STANDOFF, THE BLOOD ARTISTS, PRINCE OF THIEVES and, in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro, THE STRAIN series, among others. Mint, unread, first edition, first printing, in new, mylar-protected dust jacket.. [Not remainder-marked or price-clipped] M94