DOUBLE JEOPARDY, the 57th installment in Stuart Woods’ Stone Barrington series, takes the rich, high-powered attorney from his life in New York to the hinterlands of seaside Maine where he has a summer house. He relocates there because his psychopathic twin cousins have been released from prison, and they have Stone in their sights.

Eben and Enos are Yale graduates who were model prisoners and helped others with legal work. Though he knew they had been imprisoned for murdering their parents, the governor --- who happened to be their father’s best friend --- pardoned them anyway. Their defense was that their father sexually abused them; despite knowing exactly what was going on, their mother did not nothing to stop it. Stone is convinced that they killed other family members, including a little girl, but lacks the evidence to prove it.

"Stuart Woods never fails to deliver suspenseful and entertaining plots. His characters are always finely honed and his dialogue pitch perfect. This is especially true in DOUBLE JEOPARDY..."

In an effort to dissuade Eben and Enos from settling there, Stone buys the twins’ family home. But he is unable to keep them away as they purchase a different mansion in the neighborhood. He knows that he will have to watch his back; the twins are lethal and will not quietly accept losing their family residence. This is where his closest friends --- Dino Bacchetti, New York’s police commissioner, and his wife Viv, the COO of a successful security company --- come into play. He also has a coterie of important and well-connected folks he can turn to for help and backup, which he does.

With money being no object, Stone concocts a scheme that he hopes will fool Eben and Enos by getting an innocent couple to move into their house as the new buyers. He also puts together a rather large contingent of security people to populate the neighborhood to make sure that everyone in on the ruse is safe. This group is to dress and act as though they are residents of the town so as not to focus attention on themselves. Stone and Dino visit former CIA associate Ed Rawls, who is a rogue hit man of sorts when needed. He only kills bad guys, often in Stone’s employ.

Stone is a widower who always has a beautiful woman on his arm and in his bed. This is accomplished in DOUBLE JEOPARDY when he meets a divorcée over ice cream cones in town. She moves into his house for safety reasons when it becomes clear that the twins are on the prowl, and everyone --- especially those associated with Stone --- is on their radar.

Eben and Enos get teaching jobs at the Yale University School of Law, which brings Stone into contact with a young female undergraduate who is in their class. She was raped by the twins, who then murdered her boyfriend. They tried to kill her too, but she was rescued. She becomes part of the plan to defeat them at their own game. But will it work? Tension mounts, and bodies pile up quickly as the result of a tactic that will remind readers of a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Stuart Woods never fails to deliver suspenseful and entertaining plots. His characters are always finely honed and his dialogue pitch perfect. This is especially true in DOUBLE JEOPARDY, which makes for a clever and captivating reading experience.