The Shadow Box by John Maxim

The author of the popular Bannerman series of espionage novels presents a sophisticated, suspenseful thriller about a Wall Street banker whose life comes crashing down when a mysterious conspiracy decides to exploit a secret from his past. 50,000 first printing. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Maxim's crackjack thriller inaugurates not only Avon's new hardcover line but also a fresh direction for the author, who here abandons his usual spy-vs.-spy milieu (Bannerman's Law, etc.) to highlight the terrifying dimensions of the manufacture and international trade in counterfeit prescription drugs. The hook is classic: a man watches his life stolen from him as he learns that everything he once assumed true is false. The set-upon hero is Manhattan investment banker Mike Fallon, whose Uncle Jake?not quite a gangster, not quite a saint?is beaten to death with a baseball bat. Then Mike's fiancee is killed in a convenience store holdup; and he is fired from his job. Mike begins to feel that New York is out to get him, especially after he's nearly pushed in front of a subway car and then is assaulted by a pair of muggers. Close to panic, he flees to Martha's Vineyard, where he attempts to begin a new life and is drawn to Megan Cole, a psychic with a troubled past. But those New York attacks weren't random; behind them looms a shadow out of the Fallon past, a man who is tied to both Mike's dead father and to the murdered Jake. When one of the muggers turns out to be connected to Mike's old employer, Mike's lawyer joins up with Jake's former bodyguard and his underworld associates to try to uncover the truth. It's a complicated storyline that Maxim plays out with skill, boosting the narration with fluid writing and well-drawn characters. He also reveals enough frightening details about the drug business to scare readers off prescriptions for the rest of their lives. 50,000 first printing; major ad/promo. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Amazon.com Review Manhattan investment banker Mike Fallon is having a bad time in the big city: First his Uncle Jake is beaten to death, next his lover is killed during a holdup, and finally Fallon himself gets fired and is almost pushed in front of a subway train by muggers. Things in Martha's Vineyard, where he flees, aren't much better -- because those events weren't random occurences at all but rather ghosts from Fallon's tangled past catching up with him. Maxim makes a smooth segue from his own past as a writer of spy stories like Bannerman's Law in a book that will keep you gripped and guessing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Kirkus Reviews Maxim (Time Out of Mind, 1986, etc.) forsakes the astral plane for a suspenser whose down-and-dirty plot turns on the megabuck traffic in bogus prescription drugs. Michael Fallon's charmed life suddenly goes badly wrong. His beloved uncle Jake (a political fixer with connections throughout New York City) is brutally murdered, and his fianc‚e is gunned down in a botched convenience-store robbery. Shortly thereafter, Michael is fired by the Wall Street investment firm that pays him big money to analyze the pharmaceuticals stocks, and he's assaulted on a well-lit Manhattan street. Convinced someone wants him dead as well as discredited, he goes to ground in off-season Martha's Vineyard. Back in the Big Apple, Brendan Doyle, a godfatherly lawyer, is digging into the death of his old pal Jake and the real cause of Michael's dismissal--an inquiry that eventually leads to Baron Franz Gerhard Rast von Scharnhorst, an ostensibly respectable German industrialist whom Jake, years before, had forced to flee the US. The powerful head of AdlerChemiker AG, a Munich-based multinational that, among other dubious achievements, has gained working control of the lucrative global trade in counterfeit drugs, Baron Franz is mounting a belated vendetta. While young Michael's friends and foes stalk one another, he falls in love with Megan Cole (a year-round island resident with a past), buys a guest house in Edgartown, and finally discloses his whereabouts to Doyle. The body count climbs, and heavies in the pay of the vindictive baron fall to Michael & Co. in a climactic clash. With astute assistance from Doyle, the last of the Fallons is then able to settle outstanding accounts with AdChem and its hirelings; at the close, he lights out after Megan, who needs to be convinced they have a future together. A slick, engrossing entertainment with plausibly motivated characters and chilling detail on an underground enterprise that's evidently as remunerative as narcotics. (First printing of 50,000) -- Copyright ¬Æ1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist Wall Street hotshot Michael Fallon's life is falling apart. First, his uncle Jake, a shadowy political fixer, is brutally murdered; then his girlfriend is killed during a convenience-store holdup; then two thugs try to mug him; finally, a drunk pushes him in front of a subway train, breaking his arm. While Michael flees to Martha's Vineyard, his attorney and his uncle's bodyguard begin to investigate this bizarre chain of events. They discover an old enemy of the Fallon family who, in a new identity, has risen to the chairmanship of a pharmaceutical company called Ad-Chem, whose enormous profits stem, in large measure, from its practices of dealing in counterfeit and cut-rate, chemically deficient drugs. It all adds up to a confrontation if Michael is to reclaim his life. This is a thoroughly entertaining novel, an effective thriller yet reminiscent in its breeziness of the best of Donald Westlake. It also presents a surprisingly convincing indictment of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. George Needham --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. About the Author John R. Maxim is the author of the critically acclaimed thrillers Mosaic, Haven, and The Shadow Box and other highly praised novels, including Time Out of Mind, Abel Baker Charley, and the best selling Bannerman series. He makes his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.