The Man Who Killed His Brother - Softcover

Stephen R. Donaldson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752848488 ISBN 13: 9780752848488

Publisher: Orion Pub Co, 2002

Synopsis

Mick 'Brew' Axbrewder has a lot on his mind. An alcoholic, he lost his private investigator's licence some time ago and now works in partnership with Ginny Fistoulari, a tough, capable PI with a soft spot for Brew. Brew and Ginny have an arrangement that she will never drag him out of a bar - so when she does just that, Brew knows it must be something serious. And it is. Brew's thirteen-year-old niece has gone missing. The police seem to be doing nothing - but then Brew's investigation uncovers a link with several other girls: they all went missing, sent a letter home, then turned up dead, full of heroin. Fighting the latest drinking binge, and desperate to stay off the bottle, Brew is determined to find his niece before it is too late ...

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Donaldson lived in India for 13 years with his father, a medical missionary, who worked extensively with lepers; it was here that he conceived the character of Thomas Covenant. He was awarded the John W. Campbell Award as Best Writer of the Year for The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever, which, with the sequel trilogy, became instant bestsellers. He is also the author of the fantasy duology 'Mordant's Need', the SF epic quintet 'The Gap', and a number of mysteries written under the pseudonym Reed Stephens. He won the World Fantasy Award in 2000.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The Man Who Killed His Brother
PART ONETuesday Night/Wednesday"The truth is that you upset me when you said there is a connection between the two dead girls. I had not considered that. So I have been reading the files for two years back. I found these." Encino tapped the stack of folders. "I can't permit you to read them. But"--he sighed eloquently--"I must leave the office for a short time. How can I know what happens behind my back? Please use my desk."Five seconds later, he was gone, and I was alone with his files. There were seven folders. Carol Christie's was on the top, and I took it first. By the time I finished, I was dripping sweat on his blotter. My shirt was soaked and sticking to my back, along with most of my jacket. I didn't ask Encino's permission to use his phone--I just grabbed it and dialed Ginny as well as I could with my hands shaking like cowards."Brew," she started, "what's wrong?"I brushed past her anxiety. "I'm at Missing Persons. You've got to get down here.""Why? What's happened?""There are seven of them," I said. "I don't care what the cops say, this is no accident.""Make sense, Brew! Seven what?""Seven thirteen-year-olds. No, five. Two of them were twelve." I knew I wasn't getting through to her, but I couldn't help myself. I was too upset to pull it together."What the bloody hell are you talking about?"I pushed the phone against the side of my head as hard as I could, trying to make that damn inanimate plastic steady me. I wanted to howl, but I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. "Carol Christie didn't drown because she couldn't swim. She drowned because she OD'ed on heroin. And that's not all. Before she drowned, she--" But I couldn't say it over the phone. Carol was only thirteen. There are some things you can hardly say out loud at all."I'm on my way," Ginny told me. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Then the line went dead, leaving me with nothing but an empty phone to hang on to.Copyright © 1980, 2002 by Stephen R. Donaldson

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion Pub Co
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0752848488
• ISBN 13: 9780752848488
• Binding: Paperback