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From #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline comes a pulse-pounding new novel. Your family has been attacked, never again to be the same. Now you have to choose between law…and justice. Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.
Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization—and now Jason and his family are in their crosshairs.
The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law-abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.
Sometimes justice is a one-man show.
From #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline comes a pulse-pounding new novel. Your family has been attacked, never again to be the same. Now you have to choose between law…and justice. Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.
Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization—and now Jason and his family are in their crosshairs.
The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law-abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the coverChapter One
I glanced in my rearview mirror at the pickup truck, which was riding my bumper. I hated tailgaters, especially with my family in the car, but nothing could ruin my good mood. My daughter's field hockey team had just beat Radnor, and Allison had scored a goal. She was texting in the back seat, one of a generation that makes better use of opposable thumbs than any prior.
My son Ethan turned around next to her, shielding his eyes against the pickup's headlights. "Dad, what's up with this guy?"
"God knows. Ignore him."
"Why don't you go faster?" Ethan shifted, waking up Moonie, our little white mutt, who started jumping around in the back seat. I love the dog but he has two speeds: Asleep and Annoying.
"Why should I? I'm going the limit."
"But we can smoke this guy now."
We had just gotten a new car, a Mercedes E-Class Sedan in a white enamel that gleamed like dental veneers. Ethan said the E stood for his name, but I said Exorbitant. My wife and kids had lobbied for the car, but I felt like a show-off behind the wheel. I missed my old Explorer, which I didn't need a tie to drive.
"Dad, when I get my license, I'm gonna burn guys like him."
I heard this once a week. My son counted the days until his learner's permit, even though he was only thirteen. I said, "No, you're not. You're gonna let him pass."
"Why?"
"We have a right to enjoy the drive."
"But it's boring."
"Not to me. I'm a scenic-route kind of guy." I moved over to let the pickup pass, since Coldstream Road was a single lane winding uphill through the woods. We were entering the Lagersen Tract, the last parcel of woodland preserved by Chester County, where Nature had to be zoned for her own protection.
I lowered the window and breathed in a lungful of fresh, piney air. Thick trees flanked the road, and scrub brush grew over the guardrails. Crickets and tree frogs croaked a chorus from my childhood. I grew up on a dairy farm in Hershey, home of the famous chocolate manufacturer. I loved living in a company town, where the air smelled of sweet cocoa and corporate largesse. Everyone worked toward the same goal, even if it was capitalism.
"He's not passing us," Ethan said, bringing me out of my reverie.
I checked the rearview mirror, squinting against the headlights. Moonie was facing backward, his front paws on the back seat and his ears silhouetted like wispy triangles.
"Come on, Dad. Show 'em who's boss."
"That's well-established," I said. "Mom."
Lucinda was in the passenger seat, the curve of her smile illuminated by the phone screen. She was a natural beauty, with gray-blue eyes, a small nose, and dark blond hair gathered into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. She had been on Facebook since we'd left the school, posting game photos and comments. Great save by Arielle!!! Lady Patriots rock!!! Woohoo, Emily is MVP!!! My wife never uses fewer than three exclamation marks on social. If you only get one, you've done something wrong. Or as my father would say, You're in the doghouse.
Lucinda looked over. "Jason, speed up, would you?"
"You, too? What's the hurry?"
"They have homework."
"On Friday night? Have you met our kids?"
Lucinda smiled, shaking her head. "Whatever, Scenic-Route Kind of Guy."
"Aw, I feel so seen."
Lucinda laughed, which made me happy. I love my wife. We met at Bucknell, where she was an art major and I was a...
Reviews-
October 1, 2021
As star court reporter Jason Bennett drives his family home from his daughter's lacrosse game, two men in a pickup truck attempt to carjack his shiny new Mercedes. As a result, Jason's daughter is killed, and the rest of the family is placed in the witness protection program; the would-be carjackers are associated with an ominous criminal enterprise that distributes illicit opioids. Soon, though, Jason senses that the government isn't being straight with him and sneaks out to do some investigating on his own.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 17, 2022 At the outset of this heart-wrenching novel from bestseller Scottoline (Eternal), Jason and Lucinda Bennett, while driving home to Philadelphia with their son, his older sister, 15-year-old Allison, and their dog, are forced to stop by two men in a truck. When the dog jumps at the men, Allison is accidentally shot, and the two flee. Allison dies at the hospital, where the Bennetts learn that one of their assailants later fatally shot the other, who turns out to have been the son of the head of a criminal network that distributes and sells opiates in Pennsylvania. Early the next morning, two FBI agents bundle the Bennetts off to a safe house in Delaware, where they’re to stay before entering the witness protection program. Scottoline piles on the pathos with repetitive memories and musings among the surviving family members until Jason finally decides to take back control of his life, and what started as an examination of the profound pain of losing a child morphs into a high-speed, action-packed thriller. Conspiracy theories multiply as Jason races toward the truth. Scottoline’s fans will get their money’s worth. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.
February 1, 2022 The Bennett family is caught in a carjacking, and as Jason Bennett tries to calm the situation, one of the gunmen coldly shoots his partner, and Jason's daughter, Allison, is killed in the ensuing chaos. FBI agents quickly appear in the Bennetts' suburban enclave, insisting that they enter the Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for the family, the murdered carjacker was the son of George Veria, Philadelphia's most powerful kingpin, and the other, John Milo, has ignited Veria's vengeance by fingering Jason as the killer. Jason's fear morphs to rage when he discovers that the feds are also working with Milo, and he ducks his minders, determined to redirect Veria's revenge. Unfortunately, the heartfelt father-to-father chat Jason envisioned doesn't take into account that the whole murderous shebang was meant to bury a secret he doesn't know he holds. Scottoline's gift for crafting human connections is displayed here in the evocative grief of Veria and the Bennetts, setting this thriller apart from other suburban-hero stories. A good choice for Greg Hurwitz and Harlan Coben fans.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Perennial best-seller Scottoline, who hosts a book club attracting 1,000 fans, will draw that group and thousands more with her latest.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from February 1, 2022 A hypernormal suburban family's trip home from their daughter's soccer game leads them down a rabbit hole of criminal complications. For some reason--maybe just because it's a Mercedes--a pair of gunslingers pick court reporter Jason Bennett's ride to carjack as he drives along a quiet road with his wife, photographer Lucinda, and their teenagers, Allison and Ethan. In the scuffle that follows, one of the carjackers is shot along with Allison, who dies in the hospital. Wait, it gets worse. A pair of FBI agents knocks on the Bennetts' door at 3 a.m. to tell them that John Milo, the escaped carjacker, has framed Jason for the murder of his accomplice, George Veria Jr., in order to save himself from the wrath of Junior's father, the kingpin of the George Veria Organization. Time is of the essence, the agents assure Jason and Lucinda: They have to leave their house and their old lives behind right now and go into the witness protection program. Sure enough, minutes after the three shellshocked Bennetts allow themselves to be driven off, a representative of the GVO sets fire to their house and follows up the next day with similar fires at Jason's and Lucinda's offices. Warned off social media, the Bennetts can only watch helplessly as their friends and neighbors issue pleas for them to get in touch and self-styled "citizen detective" Bryan Krieger decides to launch his own freelance investigation, fueled by slanderous innuendo. Every time Jason thinks he's finally got the situation figured out, Scottoline tosses in explosive new complications in the most relentless of all her mysteries. A high-octane thriller whose hero is tossed into one impossible situation after another. Best started early in the morning.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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