The Program - Hardcover

White, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385499035 ISBN 13: 9780385499033

Publisher: Doubleday, 2001

Synopsis

The Program safeguards the truth, but when The Program has a hidden agenda, the protected become the hunted

With his nuanced psychological insight, inscrutable plotting, and a captivating lead character that parallels Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware, Stephen White's Alan Gregory novels have become perennial national bestsellers. But, with The Program, White has challenged himself and honed his craft with remarkable assurance to create a rare breed of thriller. A dazzling mix of first-person and omniscient voices rewards readers with an irresistible narrative momentum. But the heart and soul of the novel is an indomitable woman reevaluating the seemingly innocuous choices she's made in the past while confronting the horrifying circumstances that threaten her family's future survival.

"Every precious thing I lose, you will lose two." The Program begins with a condemned man's last words to New Orleans District Attorney Kirsten Lord. After her husband is gunned down in front of her, Lord has no choice but to flee the wrath of the murderer's vengeance. Lord pulls up stakes, changes her name, and accepts the Witness Protection Program's offer to hide her and her young daughter in Boulder, Colorado. Soon thereafter, they are befriended by Program veteran Carl Luppo, a solitary mob assassin tormented by his former life who has nothing but time for regret.

Sensing that someone inside the program has compromised Lord and her daughter's safety, Luppo takes on the role of sentinel, fully realizing that this may be his last shot at redemption. Even though Lord suspects that Luppo's warnings about the Program's dark side are justified and that she should believe the former hit man's instincts, the only people she can really trust are her nine-year-old daughter and perhaps her Program-appointed psychologist Alan Gregory.

Fans of White's previous work will applaud the brilliant use of series favorite Alan Gregory in a seemingly secondary role in the novel, and new readers will find themselves compelled to find out what Gregory has encountered before. But all readers will agree that The Program is a superior thriller; a novel firmly grounded in the realities of three-dimensional characters in crisis and driven with the narrative pace of a guilty pleasure.

About this title

Review:

Alan Gregory, the Boulder psychologist who's starred in Stephen White's long-running series of suspense novels, takes second billing in The Program. The star is Kirsten Lord, a New Orleans prosecutor who lands in Gregory's office after her husband is killed and her daughter's life threatened by a criminal she sent to prison. "Every precious thing I lose, you will lose two" is the warning that sends her on the run until she finally lands in the Witness Protection Program. But the danger's a long way from over. As a prosecutor, she was a loud and public critic of "the program," and as events unfold, it appears that her deadliest enemies may not be safely behind bars.

Some of the most interesting passages put Kirsten and Gregory together in scenes that underscore White's professional expertise. A clinical psychologist in private practice in Boulder, he brings his understanding of human nature out of the consulting room and onto the page. Fans of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware will love Alan Gregory, whose relatively minor role at the start grows as the plot deepens and turns a hunt-and-chase thriller into a multidimensional, complex, and vividly realized novel. Long overdue for a place high on the bestseller list, White may well break out with this one. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover:

Advance Praise for The Program:

"The Program should come with a one-sitting warning label and a couple of Valium. A dynamic woman in jeopardy is forced to team up with the most appealing, self-conflicted mobster since Tony Soprano to try to outwit and survive an insidious, secretive organization. Stephen White's latest puts him alongside Jonathan Kellerman as a master of the psychological thriller. Proceed at your own risk. You'll be thinking about this one for a long time."
—Stanley Pottinger, bestselling author of The Fourth Procedure and A Slow Burning

"A page-turner and a sharp, compelling portrait of a woman and daughter in crisis."
—Iris Johansen, bestselling author of The Search, The Killing Game, and
And Then You Die

"The Program is a prime-time thriller, packed thick with sharp psychological twists and sinister plot turns. White's previous novels have always delivered precision pacing and colorful settings, but he has turned it up several notches with this one, clicking the writing gears into overdrive and delving into areas that are at once gut-check fascinating and keep-the-lights-on frightening. His characters are multi-dimensional and flow off the pages as real as a death threat and as human as a kind neighbor; his dialogue is insightful and Gillette-sharp; and the story he has chosen to tell is a daily-double combo of hard-to-put-down and even harder to forget."
—Lorenzo Carcaterra, bestselling author of Gangster, Apaches, and Sleepers

"Stephen White has a nice touch—he can make spelling bees scary and turn elementary school teachers into believable hit-women. The Program is an exciting ride through a dark region of law enforcement, and there are big surprises at the end."
—Peter Abrahams, Edgar-nominated author of Crying Wolf and A Perfect Crime

"All of the Alan Gregory novels have been spellbinding, but with The Program, Stephen White rises to the top ranks of modern crime fiction. Breakneck plotting combined with penetrating psychological insight make this book an unforgettable experience. This is one of the best thrillers you will ever read."
—William Bernhardt, bestselling author of Silent Justice and the forthcoming Murder One

Praise for the Alan Gregory novels:

"White constructs his labyrinthine plot with the dexterity of a surgeon and the sensitivity of a psychologist."
—Jonathan Kellerman, bestselling author of Dr. Death and Monster

"Stephen White writes thrillers of the first order."
—Nelson DeMille, bestselling author of The Lion's Game and The General's Daughter

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0385499035
• ISBN 13: 9780385499033
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368