Editorial Content for Guess Again
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Reviewer (text)
At the risk of sounding repetitive, I still cannot fathom why Charlie Donlea is not a household name. With the release of his latest novel, GUESS AGAIN, Donlea once again proves that he is one of the best psychological thriller authors working today.
The book opens with a quote from Heywood Broun that will make you stop and think: “The tragedy of life is not that man loses but that he almost wins.” Ethan Hall retired from his job as a detective with a 100% success rate and is now an ER doctor. He simply could not deal with the cases that involved crimes against children. The last person he expects to see is his former partner, Pete Kramer. He comes to inform Ethan that he is dying and to ask that he solve a cold case that still haunts his dreams.
"GUESS AGAIN is a masterfully plotted thriller with terrific characters and a sense of justice that Donlea always seems to deliver in each of his novels."
When 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones disappeared a decade earlier, the entire community was rattled. None more so than her father, Mark, who is now Wisconsin’s governor and the man behind Pete’s request. Ethan agrees to work on the file outside of his ER hours, and everyone is satisfied that he is the best person to find some answers.
Ethan is dealing with his own demons in the form of inmate Francis Bernard, who murdered his police officer father when Ethan was only 13. He is always present whenever there is a parole board hearing to ensure that everyone remembers what Francis did, but also to convey that Francis may have been a serial killer with several female victims.
In flashback scenes, we see that Callie is having an affair with her 21-year-old volleyball coach. She walks away from an abortion clinic in Chicago as she is carrying his child and decides to keep the baby.
News that Ethan has taken on the Callie Jones case somehow reaches Francis, who asks to see him. During their tense confrontation, which bears many similarities to the infamous meeting of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Francis claims to know what happened to Callie and where she is. He also confesses to knowing the whereabouts of another young lady who went missing a month earlier and wishes to bargain for a transfer to a better prison in exchange for his assistance.
Of course, Ethan will do whatever it takes to get justice for these victims, but Francis is not to be trusted. One surprise follows another in rapid succession to the point where readers will be left reeling before the dust settles. GUESS AGAIN is a masterfully plotted thriller with terrific characters and a sense of justice that Donlea always seems to deliver in each of his novels.
Teaser
Ten years ago, 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her quiet Wisconsin lake community. A highly publicized search followed, but her body was never found. Ethan Hall, a former renegade detective turned ER doctor, left law enforcement to escape the horrors of the kid crime division. But on the 10th anniversary of Callie’s disappearance, his former partner, Pete Kramer, makes a desperate request. Pete is the veteran detective who originally investigated the case. Now he’s dying, and he needs Ethan to return to the haunting work he left behind --- and solve what happened to Callie, once and for all. It turns out there is much more to the nightmare of Callie’s disappearance than Ethan imagined, including a connection with his own dark past…and secrets that are still worth killing for.
Promo
Ten years ago, 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her quiet Wisconsin lake community. A highly publicized search followed, but her body was never found. Ethan Hall, a former renegade detective turned ER doctor, left law enforcement to escape the horrors of the kid crime division. But on the 10th anniversary of Callie’s disappearance, his former partner, Pete Kramer, makes a desperate request. Pete is the veteran detective who originally investigated the case. Now he’s dying, and he needs Ethan to return to the haunting work he left behind --- and solve what happened to Callie, once and for all. It turns out there is much more to the nightmare of Callie’s disappearance than Ethan imagined, including a connection with his own dark past…and secrets that are still worth killing for.
About the Book
On the 10th anniversary of a teenage girl’s disappearance, her cold case breaks open in dangerous ways…and threatens to tear apart her small Wisconsin town all over again in the masterfully twisty new psychological suspense novel from the internationally bestselling author of TWENTY YEARS LATER.
For fans of Riley Sager, Anna Downes, Alex Finlay, Ashley Flowers, Stacy Willingham and Karin Slaughter.
Ten years ago, 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her quiet Wisconsin lake community. A highly publicized search followed but her body was never found. The case went cold, but the echoes still linger.
Ethan Hall, a former renegade detective turned ER doctor, left law enforcement to escape the horrors of the kid crime division. But on the 10th anniversary of Callie’s disappearance, his former partner, Pete Kramer, makes a desperate request. Pete is the veteran detective who originally investigated the case. Now he’s dying, and to ease his conscience and get closure for the Jones family, he needs Ethan to return to the haunting work he left behind --- and solve what happened to Callie, once and for all.
Word soon spreads and everyone in the small town of Cherryview feels a rush of hope that answers will finally be found. Amid a sweltering heatwave, Ethan’s investigation gains momentum, but reexamining old evidence won’t be enough. He needs a new way into the case, no matter how dangerous or unconventional.
Soon Ethan’s methods draw him deeper into a twisted psychological game. Because there is much more to the nightmare of Callie’s disappearance than he imagined, including a connection with his own dark past...and secrets that are still worth killing for.
Audiobook available, read by Vivienne Leheny
