This award-winning author is renowned for his gripping mystery novels that often delve into the darker aspects of the human psyche. His skill in crafting intricate plots and memorable characters has earned him widespread acclaim. Readers appreciate his sharp insights into crime and justice.
Before Blood is the Sky, the Alex McKnight series had already hit bestseller lists and won awards, but this novel took it to a whole new level. Set in the forests of northern Ontario, a land of savage beauty and sudden danger, Blood is the Sky shows why Steve Hamilton is one of the most acclaimed crime novelists writing today. Alex McKnight isn't a man with many friends, but the few he has know they're never alone in a fix. So when Vinnie LeBlanc asks for his help in taking a trip deep into Canada in search of his missing brother, he knows he can count on Alex. His brother had taken a job as a hunting guide for a rough crew of Detroit "businessmen." The group was due back days ago, yet there's been no sign of them, and there's mounting evidence of something odd about their disappearing act. The trackless forests of northern Ontario keep many secrets, but none more shocking than the one that Alex is about to uncover. And the more closely Alex looks for answers, the more questions there become.
Alex McKnight rarely ventures out from his home these days, even to spend time at his friend Jackie's Glasgow Inn. Even as he lets Jackie force him out one night for a poker game at a stranger's house, Alex is certain it's a bad idea. And when the genial atmosphere rapidly deteriorates, he starts to think maybe he was right. Then three masked, armed robbers burst through the door, and things get a whole lot worse. Soon Alex's three closest friends are implicated in the robbery, and Alex finds himself the object of hostile attention from the victim. As events spin out of control, it becomes clear that somebody is not telling the truth, and has put them all in terrible danger...
"Nick Mason has been given a true mission impossible: Infiltrate WITSEC, the top-secret federal witness-protection program that has never been compromised, locate the three men who put his boss Darius Cole behind bars for life, and kill them. But first he has to find them--they're ghost prisoners locked down around the clock in classified "deep black" locations by a battalion of heavily armed U.S. marshals charged with protecting them--and the clock is ticking. Cole is appealing his conviction, and these witnesses are either his ticket to freedom or the final nail in his coffin. If they testify, Darius Cole will never step foot in the outside world again. If they are killed, he will walk out a free man. As he risks everything to complete his mission, Mason finds himself being hunted by the very man he replaced, the ruthless assassin who once served, then betrayed, Darius Cole. Rather than waiting to be Mason's next victim, he has escaped witness protection to hunt down and kill Mason himself."-- Provided by publisher
Praise for The Second Life of Nick Mason [ The Second Life of Nick Mason ] is
so good, it legitimately stands shoulder to padded paranoid shoulder with the
classics of the crime noir genre... There are so many terrific elements in
this novel-Nick's haunted character, a plot that never darts in the direction
you expect it to, and a truly ingenious climax-that I could be here till Labor
Day singing its praises.-Maureen Corrigan, NPR Fresh Air A high-octane,
tension-filled novel that's received well-deserved praise from great authors.-
Huffington Post [A] heart-pounding thriller with cinematic appeal...Hamilton
cleverly imbues the narrative with myriad of twists and turns, allowing the
intricate plot to unfold with stunning and extraordinary skill and suspense.
From the honor amongst thieves, to the honor amongst those sworn to protect
us, to the loyalty among childhood friends and beloved family, multiple worlds
collide as Hamilton catapults us into Nick Mason's complex psyche.-Esquire.com
As fertile as Chicago is for crime fiction, it isn't often that an outsider
captures the underside of the local scene as memorably as Steve Hamilton does
with The Second Life of Nick Mason , the terrific first installment in a
projected series...The novel more than lives up to its hype.- Chicago Tribune
In this edgy noir from a crime fiction maestro, an ex-con struggles with
unexpected freedom, falteringly rebuilding his life while a depraved puppet
master still behind bars pulls his strings.- O Magazine [A] reinvention of the
noir thriller...Hamilton gives us a bad guy who is willing-and able-to do
worse....Edgy and intelligent entertainment that hits with the force of a
narrative bullet.- Arizona Republic Steve Hamilton's new novel, The Second
Life of Nick Mason , is every bit as good as Don Winslow and Harlan Coben and
Michael Connelly say it is.- New York Daily News A captivating
thriller...Hamilton's latest novel is ambitious in its criminal scope and it
rises to the challenge of not only creating compelling three-dimensional
characters, but also fearlessly confronting our classic perceptions of right
and wrong, good and evil, as Mason desperately tries to escape his unholy
bonds of criminal servitude, regain his autonomy and perhaps whatever's left
of his humanity...Time will tell where Mason will ultimately end up, but the
next installment in this enthralling series is sure to be another Hamilton
page-turner, and can't come soon enough.- Esquire A suspenseful, fast-paced
crime novel with the same heart, well-drawn characters and muscular prose that
fans of [Hamilton's] popular Alex McKnight series and his fine stand-alone
novels such as The Lock Artist have come to expect.-Bruce DeSilva, Associated
Press A fine premise, a vibrant setting, a charismatic antihero...it's a
tight, gripping book about a man hellbent on reinventing himself against long
odds.- The New York Times The sinner who gets a chance to start over is an
archetypal figure in crime fiction. Steve Hamilton works a smart variation on
it in The Second Life of Nick Mason .-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book
Review [An] intelligent thriller....The reader has a vulnerable underdog to
root for: a loser who may yet be born to win.- The Wall Street Journal Fast
and deadly.- Sacramento Bee Hamilton gets just about everything right in [ The
Second Life of Nick Mason ]. The narrative is spare, descriptions lean and
settings authentic.- The Arizona Republic A tense, coiled thriller...It moves
like a bullet train, told in a deceptively simple, gin-clear prose that all
but sucker punches the reader....One of [Hamilton's] best.- Booklist (starred
review) Hamilton surpasses himself with Mason, who inspires storytelling of
the leanest, most gripping sort...A terrific new hero.- Kirkus Reviews
(starred review) [A] high-octane series launch...Hamilton guns it like Nick's
1968 Mustang for a fast and furi
Als sein Vater Amok läuft, versteckt sich der achtjährige Michael in einem Safe, der fast zum tödlichen Gefängnis wird. Nur durch ein Wunder kommt Michael mit dem Leben davon, seither ist er verstummt. Doch ein Talent bleibt ihm: Er ist ein Genie beim Knacken von Safes. Doch schon bald werden die falschen Leute auf seine Begabung aufmerksam …
The thing was sitting on the hallway carpet, right in front of the door to our room. . . I pulled the napkin off. Underneath was a hat, upside down, filled with ice and snow. . ."What the hell," I said. I bent down and picked it up. "That's the hat he was wearing, right? The old man downstairs?" "It is," I said. "But why?" "Wait a minute," she said. "Is there something else inside there?" She was right. I reached into the frozen mess and pulled out a piece of paper. There were five words written on it with an unsteady hand. "What does it say?" she said. I didn't answer. I just turned the piece of paper and showed it to her. I KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Alex McKnight is in love. Even though he met Natalie Reynaud, an officer from the Ontario Provincial Police, under difficult circumstances, they share a common bond of solitude, as well as the same nightmare - they're both cops who buried their partners. It's Alex's first real relationship in years, which in some ways is terrifying. But Natalie has her own fears to deal with, and her own secrets. They brave a violent snowstorm to spend the night together in a historic hotel in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. There, they meet a mysterious old man who seems to know a lot about Natalie, and about her family. But they won't be getting any answers from him - he'll be found frozen to death in a snowbank the very next morning. From this single incident, an old blood feud will be reignited, one going back decades to an event buried in her family's past - an event that even now can still drive men to kill each other. As much as Natalie doesn't want Alex to become entangled in this web of lies and hatred, there's no way he can let her face this danger alone. This is a man who has gotten beaten up, shot at, and even dragged behind a snowmobile, all because he's a sucker for a friend in need. How much farther will he go for love?
