Devil's Gambit - Devil's Due

by Kris Neri

When Megan Aguila's brilliant but emotionally erratic husband, Nick, is released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, it seemed as if all their troubles were over. But then Nick was kidnapped and held for a staggering ransom. It was fortunate that most of the employees in Northern California's tech-rich Silicon Valley were insured by their employers against extortion, so it fell to his boss, the charming and charismatic billionaire, Dallas Burton Hale, whose legions of enemies hide in the shadows, to cough up the payoff. Was money at the root of the kidnapping scheme, or vengeance? And was it directed at Nick, or Hale?With so much on the line, Hale went right to the top for help — to James Scott Stuart, Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco field office of the FBI. Since Stuart was about to be named the new US Attorney General, it was to his advantage to wrap up a crime that had all the makings of a media circus, so he could sail into his cabinet post in triumph. Why then, did he assign agents to oversee it who were all burned-out has-been's and never-were's? Did Stuart have a secret agenda of his own that overrode even his own success?When the FBI botches the ransom drop, the kidnapper claims another hostage — Megan's teenage daughter, Andi, a triathlete whose tough-girl athletics and fresh vulnerability has pierced the married Hale's heart, ratcheting up the tension higher still. Ultimately, it falls to the most disenfranchised among the law enforcement officials to pierce through the perplexing twists and on-the-ropes local cop, Paul Gray, the man who first sent Nick to prison and who is still in love with Nick's wife, and brand new Special Agent Elena Rios, whose every move seems to put her in deeper trouble with the Bureau higher-ups. But even they are not prepared for the stunning truths they ultimately uncover.With technology that's as real as tomorrow, which promises to change the map of medicine, potentially saving millions of lives, and building an unimaginable fortune for the one who controls it, and its fast-paced, high-concept plot, the high stakes game in DEVIL’S GAMBIT – DEVIL’S DUE also proves that two wrongs really can make a right.

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2011

About the author

My latest novel is MAGICAL MUSHROOMS, the third adventure in my Samantha Brennan and Annabelle Haggerty Magical Mystery, featuring a questionable psychic who teams up with a contemporary goddess hidden within the FBI.

The earlier books in the series are HIGH CRIMES ON THE MAGICAL PLANE and ANNABELLE HAGGERTY. Both novels were Lefty Award nominees for Best Humorous Mystery Novel and MAGICAL ALIENATION was a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award winner.

I've written one women's fiction-crime crossover, HOPSCOTCH LIFE, featuring quirky protagonist Plum Tardy. HOPSCOTCH LIFE is also a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award winner.

I also write the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity and Lefty Award-nominated Tracy Eaton mysteries, featuring the daughter of eccentric Hollywood stars, REVENGE OF THE GYPSY QUEEN, DEM BONES' REVENGE, REVENGE FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE and the latest, REVENGE ON ROUTE 66, which takes place in the quirkiest spots along the Southwestern Route 66, and which is a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award finalist.

I also write thrillers and short stories.

I've published some sixty short-plus stories, which have appeared in periodicals and anthologies in the US and overseas. I'm a two-time Derringer Award winner and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee for my short fiction. One of my Derringer Award winners, "L.A. Justice," is the story in which my Tracy Eaton series was born. You can read that and another Tracy Eaton short story, as well as some other stories, on the Stories page of my website: www.krisneri.com.

I teach writing online for the prestigious Writers' Program of the UCLA Extension School, and other organizations.

I have been a lifelong voracious reader. My tastes are varied. I love mysteries -- both cozies and those that are darkish, but humorous mysteries are my favorites. I also read thrillers, urban fantasy, humorous urban fantasy, general fiction, and loads of personal growth books -- in short, a little bit of everything. As a former bookseller, I've read it all!

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good mystery with a twist! Well done