Editorial Content for Guess Again
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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
Behind bars, a killer holds the key. Outside, an obsession turns deadly in this masterfully twisty new thriller from the bestselling author of TWENTY YEARS LATER.
Silence of the Lambs meets “Cruel Summer” in GUESS AGAIN, as #1 internationally bestselling author Charlie Donlea dives into the long shadow of trauma on a small town, hybristophilia and the allure of evil, and the toll the truth can take on those who hunt for it.
A missing girl: Seventeen-year-old Callie Jones was the all-American sweetheart of her small Wisconsin community. No one could have guessed that one summer night at her friends’ lake party would be the last time anyone would see her. A highly publicized search followed, but her body was never found. Callie’s case went cold.
A former renegade cop: Ten years ago, Ethan Hall was the detective assigned to Callie’s case. When all leads slipped through his fingers and the trail went cold, Ethan’s guilt led him to leave law enforcement and the trauma of the child crime unit. But now, when Ethan’s former partner requests his help on the 10th anniversary of Callie’s disappearance, Ethan reluctantly agrees to be brought back into the fold.
A twisted killer: Serial killer Francis Bernard was sentenced to life behind bars --- but he has no plans to stay locked up in his tiny cell. When cop Ethan Hall turns to him for information on Callie’s case, Francis sees his chance. Twisting him into his psychological web, Ethan thinks he’s safe with Francis locked up, but little does Ethan know, Francis has hands on the outside. And she’s willing to die for him.
A woman with a dangerous obsession: Eugenia Morgan is lucky, she knows some people spend a lifetime trying to find their soulmate, but she’s already got hers. She just has to break him out of prison first.
Audiobook available, read by Vivienne Leheny
