The Guardian - Hardcover

Eidson, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031286115X ISBN 13: 9780312861155

Publisher: Tor Books, 1996

Synopsis

In The Guardian, Bill Eidson has crafted a thriller that shows the chilling consequences of random violence hitting home in a quiet suburb. Set in the Boston area, this book takes off like a rocket in the first chapter.
Eleven-year-old Janine Stearns and her parents stop into a convenience store to buy ice cream. Moments later a masked gunman walks in, robs the store, shoots the clerk, and, seeing her father's BMW, kidnaps Janine. What begins as a coincidence coalesces into a whole world of dark interconnections and horrifying possibilities. Nothing is as it appears. It is left to Ross Sterns, Janine's uncle and guardian, to rescue Janine and end the nightmare of senseless violence.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

An ex-con's pen pals help him free his young niece from her kidnappers in a gritty beat-the-clock third thriller from Eidson (Dangerous Waters, 1991, etc.). In a slam-bang opening, a man/woman team of masked bandits gun down the owner of a convenience store outside Boston and, seemingly on the spur of the moment, take a nine-year-old girl with them when they flee. Desperate to recover their daughter Janine, Greg and Beth Stearns heed the warning of her abductors not to involve the police. Greg nonetheless calls in his brother Ross (a prodigal son who spent five years behind bars on dubious drug-running charges), and the two start trying to meet the $500,000 ransom demand. With Greg's business near bankruptcy and Ross out of work, their only means of raising big money is a piece of undeveloped coastal property on the North Shore of Massachusetts. Ross checks with a local Mafioso who makes an unacceptably low bid but assists him in other ways. Under a tight deadline, the brothers finally sell to a shady realtor who says he can come up with $700,000 in cash on short notice. The first attempt at an exchange goes wrong, and Greg dies in a shootout. Ross stoically buries him in the family's oceanside plot, then begins tapping prison and underworld contacts in an effort to identify the pair who snatched Janine. As it becomes clearer that they weren't acting on their own, however, the kidnappers also become increasingly erratic. Although gaining ground on his quarry, Ross is now concerned enough about Janine's safety to bring in the cops and FBI. He learns the disturbing truth about the plot in a climactic confrontation that brings unsuspected enemies of the Stearns clan into the open and adds three villains to an already high body count. A slick, notably violent entertainment that cuts to the chase at every opportunity. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

A seemingly random kidnapping that spirals out of control provides the plot twists in Eidson's tightly written, emotionally charged third novel (after Dangerous Waters, 1991). The narrative sprints into action as nine-year-old Janine Stearns is snatched from her parents during a convenience-store robbery near Boston. When the kidnapper demands a half-million dollars for her return, Greg and Beth Stearns are forced to sell off the family land in the suburbs?but a botched exchange leaves one principal dead and Janine still in the hands of her abductors. So it's up to Greg's brother, Ross, an ex-con who did time following a drug bust, to take over the recovery effort. Ross turns to some old prison contacts to track down the kidnappers and lure them into a trap. The plot-counterplot between Ross and the kidnappers leads to the discovery of an elaborate conspiracy behind the abduction, as well as to a series of electrifying chase scenes through Boston and the surrounding suburbs in which Eidson, a Boston ad exec, puts his knowledge of local color to fine use. The author adds psychological muscle to his sinewy storytelling by exploring, through multiple characters' perspectives, the emotional pain of a family that has been ripped apart. Admirers of tough crime tales told in pared-down prose will find Eidson's latest a sure bet.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 031286115X
• ISBN 13: 9780312861155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 286