Accidents happen . . . Ryan James' promising baseball career was derailed before it even got started—when a hit-and-run driver killed his wife, Chelsea, leaving Ryan alone to care for their beautiful little girl. Now, three years later, he's a popular sports radio host in Boston, still haunted by a tragic crime that was never solved. But this was no accident Then, on the anniversary of Chelsea's death, Ryan receives a chilling message from an anonymous tipster: "I know who did it." The shocking revelation that it may have come from Chelsea's autistic younger brother sets Ryan on a twisted path toward a shattering truth that threatens Ryan, his daughter, and everyone around them.

Payton Shields had known from the time she was a child that she wanted to be a doctor. Now she's in her first year or residency at a major Boston children's hospital. She's made it to the top through relentless drive, stellar academic credentials, and a mountain of debt to Harvard Medical School. She's working impossibly long hours but she has the life she wants. Then, late one night, driving home through a heavy snowstorm, she sees a car coming straight toward her, driving her off the road and into a frozen pond. Rescue comes in the form of a man who pulls her from the wreckage and walks away. Yet nobody believes her story, that the "accident" was no accident. This is the first in a series of strange, escalating events that take Payton deeper into danger from a faceless enemy who seems to know her every move. And she has to turn her considerable determination into catching a killer before he catches her.

An impoverished single mother is stupefied to find $200,000 in a package anonymously mailed to her, until her house is broken into shortly thereafter. A dying electrician tells his son about $2 million buried under the floorboards of the attic. The son, incredulous, locates another $3 million in a Panamanian bank, but when he goes to investigate, his papers are stolen. Both of the newly wealthy people have reservations about keeping money acquired so suspiciously and are soon in touch. Grippando (The Informant) nicely plots a baffling yet believable story of extortion and deception from an earlier generation. Sad to say, the tale eventually degenerates into a gun battle at a remote dam after midnight, with a hired killer and the appointee to head the Federal Reserve Board. Still, the setup is well done, and if the story slips into thriller clich?s, well, it's that kind of book. This is one of the few abridgments that doesn't leave the listener wondering whether a tape was left out of the package; Mark Blum reads with a real sense of urgency. Overall, you could do much worse.AJohn Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Some people will do anything for power. ANYTHING. U.S. Attorney General Allison Leahy is the nation's top law enforcement officer and the Democrtas' best chance for holding on to the Oval Office. But she has powerful competition in Republican Lincoln Howe, a retired fourstar general and bona finde Africa-American hero. They are running neck and neck, and seemingly nothing can break the deadlock. Then, just days before the election, disaster strikes. Twelve-year-old Kristen Howe, the general's granddaughter, is kidnapped. As attorney general, Allison launched a nationwide manhunt, but her motives come under fire from her opponent. For Allison, though, finding Kristen isn't about politics. Here is a personal crusade that taps into terrifying secrets buried deep within the past--secrets that can shatter all Allison's hopes, twisting them into a nightmare of lies and the ultimate betrayal.