Another exhilarating thriller from Edgar Award winner David Ellis, introducing the new series protagonist Jason Kolarich.
Jason Kolarich is a midwestern Everyman with a lineman’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent maverick, but he’s also struggling with an overwhelming emotional burden—one that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of those around him.
Twenty-seven years ago, two-year-old Audrey Cutler disappeared from her home in the middle of the night. She was never found. All the detectives had to go on were vague eyewitness accounts of a man running down the Cutlers’ street, apparently carrying someone. Without enough evidence to suggest otherwise, Griffin Perlini—a neighbor with prior offenses against minors—was arrested, but never convicted.
The case is long closed when Perlini is murdered nearly thirty years later. Now a man named Mr. Smith appears in Jason Kolarich’s office, saying only that he represents a third party who wants the man charged with murder off the hook and that Kolarich is perfect for the job. The new client: Audrey Cutler’s older brother, Sammy—Kolarich’s estranged childhood best friend—a man he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years.
But when Kolarich starts receiving violent threats from Mr. Smith’s enigmatic employer, he figures out that the secrecy behind this nameless third party—and the key to winning Sammy’s case—is entangled with the mystery of Audrey’s disappearance. With his own life and Sammy’s in the balance, Kolarich has to put aside not only the mounting anxiety of the job but also a heart-wrenching personal tragedy in order to find out what really happened to Audrey all those years ago.
...it is that good! Without giving a story summary, suffice to say that the story is a compelling one and will keep you at the edge of your seat. Very well written - keeps you guessing until the last page. You won't want to miss this one!
I am an avid mystery reader and I have to say The Hidden Man is the absolutely best book I have read in a long while - in fact I lost several hours of sleep because I just could not stop reading. It was also a delight that not only was the story intriguing, with a lot of sub-plots, but David Ellis is also a gifted writer - very well written. Not matter how many times I thought I had the mystery solved, I was always wrong - David Ellis kept the reader going into the very end. It is not often that I find that I have not "figured" out the climax - Ellis really threw me a loop! The story was exciting, fast-paced with regular glimpses into the main character's past. While reading, I felt like I was one-on-one with the main character, racing to unravel the facts that would save himself, his brother and his childhood best friend.
I highly recommend The Hidden Man - just a word of warning - do not start reading unless you have the time to finish - you literally cannot put this book down!
In 1980, someone abducted two-year-old Audrey Cutler from her bedroom. Her stunned mother held her seven year old son Sammy tight as if she will never let him go. The police question sexual offender Perlini, but the evidence was not there.
In 2006 Sammy runs into Perlini. Soon afterward the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Audrey is dead. The police arrest Sammy. His high school crony defense attorney Jason Kolarich is hired to defend Sammy. However, the fee for his services comes from an unknown M. Smith who wants a speedy trial and the lawyer believes his defeat as he is told how his client is to plea. Still reeling from the deaths of his wife and daughter in a car accident, Jason tries his best. His inquiry leads to a mass grave of children, but instead of euphoria, his client's financial backers abduct Jason's brother threatening to kill him if the attorney uncovers any other revelations.
This is a terrific legal thriller starring a dedicated attorney who wants to do his best by his client regardless of who is paying for the defense or his own issues. The story line is fast-paced from the onset as armchair lawyers will root for and read in one sitting Jason's efforts to mount a viable defense. Fans will enjoy Jason's idealistic attempts to defend Sammy especially after his sibling is kidnapped. David Ellis has a winner in Jason Kolarich.
