Delusion: A Novel of Suspense - Hardcover

Abrahams, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061137995 ISBN 13: 9780061137990

Publisher: William Morrow, 2008

Synopsis

A woman's world is turned upside down when new evidence frees a man she put in prison with her testimony years ago in this latest ingenious thriller from the author Publishers Weekly calls "one of the best contemporary thriller writers around."

Twenty years ago Nell Jarreau witnessed the murder of her boyfriend. Her testimony put a man behind bars—and led her to her husband, Clay, the gentle detective who solved the case. They've been happy ever since—and have raised a daughter together—but then one phone call changes everything.

New evidence has exonerated Alvin DuPree, aka Pirate—the man Nell helped to convict—and now he's a free man. Nell is consumed by feelings of guilt, and for the first time in their marriage, Clay is no help. The case is closed for him, this new turn of events a mistake, nothing more, and Nell's attempts to talk to him about the situation are met with anger. And to make matters worse, the whole ordeal is beginning to wear on her relationship with her daughter.

Nell is determined to find the answers to her questions, though. Is DuPree, now a much-changed man, really innocent? Could Nell have been wrong all those years ago? Does her husband—or her daughter—know something about the case Nell doesn't? But secrets buried for twenty years tend to grow roots, to burrow deep; and they are not unearthed easily. Every answer produces more questions, and Nell's search eventually leads her to the one person she hasn't approached: the freed man himself. As the pieces fall into place, Nell realizes that the truth—and very real danger—could be much closer than she ever imagined.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Abrahams is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including the Edgar Award-winning Reality Check, Bullet Point, and the Echo Falls series for middle graders. Writing as Spencer Quinn, he is also the author of the Chet and Bernie series—Dog on It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, and To Fetch a Thief. He and his wife live in Massachusetts with their dog, Audrey.

From Booklist:

Abrahams, who has been dividing his time lately between literary thrillers for adults (his stock-in-trade for years) and his award-winning Echo Falls mystery series for kids (the second volume, Behind the Curtain, appeared in 2006), returns to the adult beat with this psychological suspense tale. Nell Jarreau considers her life to be perfect: a loving husband; a job she likes; a nice home; a beautiful daughter. But that wasn’t always so; her first love (and the father of her daughter) was gunned down 20 years before. Now, based on new evidence, the man imprisoned for the crime has been exonerated. “Pirate” is free. Could Nell’s identification all those years ago have been wrong? Did she send an innocent man to jail? Her husband, one of the men who investigated the case, reassures her; it’s just one of those legal snafus, he insists. But his odd behavior and questions posed by an ambitious reporter are puzzling enough to make her doubt herself. In the meantime, Pirate enters a world he no longer understands and tries to apply his jailhouse mentality to new feelings and situations. As the story unfolds through the measured, very different perspectives of Pirate and Nell, readers catch a glimpse of how betrayal and loyalty can be equally deadly. --Stephanie Zvirin

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061137995
• ISBN 13: 9780061137990
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304