Buried Secrets (Nick Heller) - Hardcover

Finder, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312379145 ISBN 13: 9780312379148

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2011

Synopsis

When Alexa Marcus, the teenage daughter of a billionaire hedge fund titan, is kidnapped, itâ s up to family friend and â private spyâ Nick Hellerâ a former intelligence operative trained in the Special Forcesâ to find herâ ¦before time runs out.

Alexa has been buried alive, a videocam trained on her night and day, her terror streamed live over the Internet. Who are her cunning and ruthless captorsâ and what do they want? And why is there no ransom request? With the help of an ex-lover, FBI Special Agent Diana Madigan, Nick must penetrate layers of deceptions and manipulations to hunt down Alexaâ s abductors. He will destroy anyone who gets in his wayâ even Alexaâ s own father, who refuses to reveal the one secret that will save his daughterâ s life. Meanwhile, powerful members of a conspiracy are on Nickâ s trailâ ¦and determined to make sure that their secrets stay buried. But they donâ t realize how far Nick Heller will go to uncover the truthâ and save a life.

About this title

Review:

Product Description
Joseph Finder introduced Nick Heller, a “private spy” who finds out things powerful people want to keep hidden, to widespread acclaim from the critics and wild enthusiasm from the readers, in the New York Times bestselling novel Vanished. Now, in Buried Secrets, Nick Heller returns, finding himself in the middle of a life-or-death situation that’s both high-profile and intensely personal.

Nick has returned to his old home town of Boston to set up his own shop. There he’s urgently summoned by an old family friend. Hedge fund titan Marshall Marcus desperately needs Nick’s help. His teenaged daughter, Alexa, has just been kidnapped. Her abduction was clearly a sophisticated professional job, done with extraordinary precision. Alexa, whom Nick has known since she was young, is now buried alive, held prisoner in an underground crypt, a camera trained on her, her suffering streaming live over the internet. She’s been left with a limited supply of food and water and, if her father doesn’t meet the demands of her shadowy kidnappers, she’ll die. And as Nick begins to probe, he discovers that all is not quite right with Marshall Marcus’s business. He’s being investigated by the FBI, he has a lot of shady investors, his fund is in danger and now he has a lot of powerful enemies who may have the motivation to go after Marcus’s daughter. But to find out who’s holding Alexa Marcus hostage, Nick has to find out why. Once he does, he uncovers an astonishing conspiracy that reaches far beyond anything he could have imagined. And if he’s going to find Alexa in time, he will have to flush out and confront some of his deadliest opponents ever.

Amazon Exclusive: Reacher and Heller
by Lee Child, author of the bestselling Jack Reacher series

Some say it was Virginia and some say it was North Carolina but all agree it was a bar. Everyone was drinking domestic beer, except Reacher, who was drinking coffee, and inevitably after an hour the talk turned to guys people knew. Reacher sat quiet, not really part of the group, content to ignore the war stories and the tall tales, until the name Nick Heller came up. Someone said Heller had been one of General Hood's boys, and was therefore suspect, because everyone knew Hood was as bent as a nine dollar bill. Reacher shook his head and spoke for the first time in an hour.

"No," he said. "Heller worked for Hood, but he was never one of the boys. In fact the smart money said Heller was the guy who would take Hood down one day."

"You know Heller?" someone asked.

"No," Reacher said again. "But I met a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. And I heard things."

"And?"

"I made a mental note, that's all. Heller's OK."

"As good as us?"

"Better."

"Than you too?"

Reacher smiled. "He's in the rear view mirror. A little closer than some."

"What's he like?"

"He drives a Land Rover. A thing called a Defender. British. Like a Willys jeep without the frills. That's about all you need to know, right there."

"So he's a caveman, like you."

"No, that's where it gets complicated. He's very smart with technology. I heard he did a couple of years in D.C. with one of those hi-tech Beltway firms. Like the CIA, but private. Better paid. And more efficient, obviously."

"I heard he's in Boston," someone said.

Reacher nodded.

"There was an issue."

"What kind?"

"Ethical, probably. Heller's got a backbone. Guys like that have problems in D.C."

"His dad was a crook."

"Financial," Reacher said.

"They're all crooks. But Heller's OK."

"Would you trust him? You?"

"Probably," Reacher said. "He's a stand-up guy. Apparently he went to bat for his brother a year or so ago. No reason to, but he did. It was a bad situation, too. But he came out ahead. Some very nice moves. There's a nephew, they say. Weird kid, but Heller does his best. And his mother is still on the scene. Someone once told me a guy who gets along with his mother can't be all bad."

"Who told you that?"

"My mother."

"What's he doing in Boston? Private eye?"

"Not exactly," Reacher said. "More like a private spy. He put together a crew up there. They do the CIA stuff in the office, and then he goes and does the black ops stuff himself. One stop shopping."

"Is he a Red Sox fan?"

"I hope not."

"Still, Boston. Quiet up there."

"Not very," Reacher said. "Guy I met was talking about a kidnapping. Some rich girl taken out of a night club. Billionaire father, and so on and so forth. Some serious Russians involved. I mean, serious as lung cancer. But it turned out OK."

"That was Heller?"

"Lips are sealed, but I don't see who else it could have been. It was done about ninety percent the same way I would have done it. Which means it had to be Heller. There's no one else that good up there."

"You've got competition," someone said.

Reacher smiled again.

"Human nature," he said. "There are always new guys. Law of averages says some of them will be good."

"Would you call him? If you were in trouble in Boston?"

"I don't have a phone," Reacher said.

"But I'd be happy enough if he happened to show up. We could do some damage together, that's for damn sure."

From the Back Cover:

"Compulsively readable." ―Publishers Weekly

When Alexa Marcus, the teenage daughter of a billionaire hedge fund titan, is kidnapped, it's up to family friend and "private spy" Nick Heller―a former intelligence operative trained in the Special Forces―to find her...before time runs out.

"A total wow of a read."―Booklist

Alexa has been buried alive, a videocam trained on her night and day, her terror streamed live over the Internet. Who are her cunning and ruthless captors―and what do they want? And why is there no ransom request? With the help of an ex-lover, FBI Special Agent Diana Madigan, Nick must penetrate layers of deceptions and manipulations to hunt down Alexa's abductors. He will destroy anyone who gets in his way―even Alexa's own father, who refuses to reveal the one secret that will save his daughter's life. Meanwhile, powerful members of a conspiracy are on Nick's trail...and determined to make sure that their secrets stay buried. But they don't realize how far Nick Heller will go to uncover the truth―and save a life.

"An Action-packed, full-throttle...read-it-tonight series that you definitely shouldn't miss."―Lee Child

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0312379145
• ISBN 13: 9780312379148
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400