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Summary
Summary
Noland Twice, a star athlete turned private investigator, can find anyone, no matter how far they run or how well they hide. He works the Orlando-Tampa corridor, a bizarre land where theme parks and tourists coexist with drug deals and crooked businessmen. When a shady local executive, Valkenburg, goes missing, Noland is the only man for the job. Within hours of taking the case, Noland realizes nothing about this case is going to be easy, and he recruits his friend Kiril to help him with the dirty work when he finds a dead body. But the corpse isn't the missing man - it's the body of one of the partners of his construction firm. There's only one clue as to Valkenburg's whereabouts: a set of strange numbers hastily scrawled on the dead man's arm. When Noland discovers that the numbers are a set of GPS coordinates, he follows the trail to a construction site. At the exact location inscribed on the body, there's a box buried in the dirt. Inside, he finds a handwritten journal - and a woman's severed head. Propulsive and unpredictable, this gritty P.I. thrill ride races through a criminal world where nothing is ever as it seems.
Author Notes
Ash Clifton grew up in Gainesville, Florida, home of the University of Florida, where his father was a deputy sheriff and, later, the Chief of Police. He graduated from U.F. with a degree in English, then got an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. He lives in Gainesville with his wife and son. He writes mystery, thriller, and science fiction novels.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
When Noland Twice, the protagonist of Clifton's accomplished PI thriller debut, was 19, he was a star safety with the University of Florida's football team. After college, he excelled as a cop, and at one point boasted the best arrest record in Florida. Then a vengeful meth dealer framed Twice for drug possession. He swiftly lost his job and wound up spending two years in prison. Following his exoneration, Twice reinvented himself as a Central Florida gumshoe. Now, attorney Faith Carlton has retained him to trace Arthur Valkenberg, a partner in a massive Florida construction firm and suspected embezzler who's gone missing. Carlton hopes that tracking down Valkenberg might help exonerate her client, Frank Bisby, a partner at the firm who's been charged with fraud. Shortly after Twice starts investigating, he stumbles on a corpse in Valkenburg's apartment, transforming the missing persons case into something much more complex. Twice is a rough-but-lovable lead, neither too squeaky-clean nor too nasty to root for, and Clifton takes the central mystery in surprising and satisfying directions. Fans of Michael Kortya's Lincoln Perry series will be eager to spend more time with this memorable sleuth. Agent: Cindy Bullard, Birch Literary. (Mar.)
Kirkus Review
A brash Florida private eye leaps into action in search of a business partner who's disappeared with $14 million. Bulldog attorney Faith Carlton protests that she can't go to trial in her defense of Frank Bisby, the CEO of Selberis Constructors, without deposing Bisby's partner, Arthur Valkenburg. The judge, impressed that she's hired ex--University of Florida football star Noland Twice to find Valkenburg, grants her two additional weeks. But Nole doesn't need nearly that much time to turn up Valkenburg, lose him again, sneak into his apartment searching for clues and discover Bisby shot to death. Calculating that sharing this news with the authorities will spell doom for Selberis, his nominal client, he calls his buddy Kiril, the opponent who ended his football career by breaking his leg in an overenthusiastic tackle. Together they do what they can (don't ask) to ensure that the body won't be discovered by anyone else for at least a week while Nole renews his search for the slippery Valkenburg. A fresh complication arises as Nole comes to doubt that Valkenburg was the thief. Could it instead have been his ex-wife, sexy accountant Cassandra Raines, banker Sabine Werther, or one of the other top dogs at Selberis--CEO William Redding, operations chief Shawn Difore, or vice president Karen Voss? For better or worse, one suspect will be eliminated by Nole's discovery of a second, headless corpse. The mystery, which eventually focuses on the hunt for a pair of books that have been pressed into service to devise an unbreakable code, is routine, but Nole, who's clearly learned his business and sexual ethics from a close study of hard-boiled fiction, is a keeper. Will a series follow? Let's hope so. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Noland Twice was a promising college-football player until he broke his leg so badly he could never play again. After that, he became a cop, got dirty, spent time in prison, got out, made a deal that expunged his crimes, and turned private investigator. His latest case is a doozy: he's hired to find Arthur Valkenberg, partner in Selberis, one of Florida's biggest construction firms. Arthur is accused by his partners of absconding with millions of dollars, and Selberis' CEO, who's under indictment himself for shady business practices, wants Arthur's head. Although he's hesitant to take on what looks to be a hugely challenging case, the promise of a four-million-dollar fee is too good for Noland to turn down. Little does he suspect that this will be one of the most deadly and upsetting cases he's ever investigated or that Selberis is rotten to the core. As bodies mount and the violence escalates, Noland wonders if he's bitten off more than he can chew. Intuitive, tenacious, dangerous, whip smart, and soft hearted but tough, Noland Twice is a charismatic hero in a riveting story with breakneck pacing, unguessable twists, and a heart-stopping ending. Fans of Robert B. Parker and Lee Child will love him.
Library Journal Review
DEBUT Noland Twice has been a football player, a cop, and a convict. Now he's a private investigator who often makes bad decisions. His latest one is agreeing to look into a case for defense attorney Faith Carlton, despite his gut feeling that he'll have to make some illegal moves as he investigates. Carlton's client is a construction firm, one of whose partners is on trial for embezzlement, and another, named Valkenburg, has disappeared with millions. The court has given Carlton 14 days to find Valkenburg and the money. Twice suspects that the construction firm's other partners are crooked too and trying to get their hands on the money, but they're scared of their partner in Brazil. When Twice tracks Valkenburg to his apartment, he finds a body, but it's not Valkenburg's. Desperate to keep on his timeline, Twice contacts a Russian friend to help him hide the body. Someone is always one step ahead of Twice as he clashes with law enforcement, embezzlers, gangsters, and killers. But he has one ace up his sleeve: his father, a cop now in prison, and his well-placed friends. VERDICT Fans of antiheroes and flawed characters will enjoy this action-packed, nonstop adventure.--Lesa Holstine
