The Program

A New York Times Bestseller

“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

“Every precious thing I lose, you will lose two.” After hearing these words from a condemned man, New Orleans District Attorney Kirsten Lord watches as her husband is gunned down. Lord has a young daughter, and no choice but to flee the murderer’s vengeance. She accepts the Witness Protection Program’s offer to hide them in Boulder, Colorado, where they’re befriended by Program veteran Carl Luppo, a solitary mob assassin tormented by his former life. Sensing that someone inside the Program has compromised their safety, Luppo takes on the role of sentinel — perhaps his last shot at redemption.

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