A suspenseful novel crackling with murder, love, and betrayal -- introducing the smart young detective Jamie Ferrara.In this One Life to Live tie-in novel, Jamie Ferrara is a spunky, attractive detective engaged to Rod Wolenski, the Chief of Detectives and her boss, and still living with her retired cop father and spacey rock guitarist brother. When a dear old friend dies in a grotesque holiday accident, Jamie is pulled into a homicide investigation in her small New Jersey hometown, and reunited with the friends and secrets she left behind. There's Barclay, now a rich womanizing developer; Pudge, a funny man who owns a local restaurant; Amanda, a gorgeous and promiscuous young widow; and Garth McBride, the boy who broke Jamie's heart. At the funeral Pudge reminds Jamie that the death was mysteriously similar to the murder dreamed up a decade ago by their secret "killing club," formed when they were high school misfits who spent their free time thinking up ingenious ways to murder the people they despised.
Seeking the truth about her friend's death, Jamie finds more questions than answers. As she battles her superiors, who tell her the similarity is a mere coincidence, and her own conscience -- as she's not clear which friends to trust -- she discovers that her heart is once again tugged by her feelings for Garth and that the evidence might be leading her to the most horrific truth imaginable.
The Killing Club is a suspenseful page-turner that will leave readers riveted -- and hungry for more.
The authors of this elaborate thriller-spoof are an odd team: Walsh is a fictional character from the soap opera One Life to Live and Edgar-winner Malone is the ABC show's former head writer. The book has nothing to do with the TV program or its characters. Marcie herself isn't even a character. But on the actual television soap, the character Marcie will be writing a book - this book - as part of the show, and there will be eerie echoes of Marcie's plot - this plot - on the show. The book's heroine is 20-something Jamie Ferrara, a police homicide detective in the small New Jersey town of Gloria. When one of Jamie's high school buddies is killed in what looks like an accident, Jamie is reminded that during her senior year, she and the victim belonged to the Killing Club, in which members designed strategies for killing people they didn't like. When Jamie realizes that the accident victim invented his own murder scenario, she starts investigating. Walsh/Malone craft an interesting plot spiced up by the Peyton Placeā"like antics of Gloria's residents. At one point, Jamie asks herself, "Was there anybody in Gloria... who wasn't cheating on a spouse?" Kind of like Llanview, where One Life to Live takes place. If "author" Walsh is killed off on OLTL, she can always make a new career writing readable, enjoyable mysteries, as long as she teams up with Malone.
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Murder gets personal for Gloria, New Jersey, police detective Jamie Ferrara when an old friend from high school is killed. In short succession, several other friends follow, all of whom were members of the Killing Club, a high-school group that planned the murders of people who bugged them. Is the killer someone who supposedly committed suicide years ago? The only person Jamie can rule out is herself. This book has an odd genesis. "Author" Marcie Walsh is a character on ABC's One Life to Live (both ABC and Hyperion are owned by Disney), and Malone, along with being a celebrated novelist, is the show's recently departed writer. Cross promotion with ABC Daytime is planned and apparently will take place even though Malone is no longer with the show. Fortunately, the book can stand on its own without the gimmicks. Malone, an Edgar winner, struts his stuff here. The twists twist well, the characters have just the right amount of depth, and Malone's splendid use of detail enables him to create a fascinating, multidimensional community. Ilene Cooper
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