Tim Wallace's wife died in a boating accident several months ago. Tim was the only eye witness, and one New Jersey cop is sure he killed her. He didn't, but even if the police eventually clear his name, he'll never get over this terrible tragedy.
On New Year's Eve, his two best friends and business partners finally convince him to go out for the first time since Maggie's death, and at their neighborhood pub just a few minutes before midnight, things in Tim Wallace's life go from bad to worse. "Can you keep a secret? A really big one?" a drunken stranger asks him. Before Tim can say anything or turn away, the man confesses to a months-old murder, even offering as proof the location of the woman's body. "Now it's your problem," he says and walks away.
When the man turns out to have been telling the truth, Tim's life and work are put under the microscope again by the cops, and this time they're not giving up. But neither is Tim, even when things keep getting worse for him, and eventually he realizes he's the only person who can figure out what's really going on---even if it kills him.
David Rosenfelt, popular author of six Andy Carpenter mysteries, including the recent hit Play Dead, delivers his first standalone with Don't Tell a Soul, combining the suspense and great characters of his mystery series with an unputdownable, thrilling read.
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Publishers Weekly
Near the start of this stellar stand-alone from Rosenfelt (Play Dead), ordinary guy Timothy Wallace, still grieving for his wife, Maggie, who was blown to bits in a boating explosion on Long Island Sound a few months earlier, hears a gruesome secret from a fellow bar patron on New Year's Eve. Tim was investigated and cleared as a person of interest in Maggie's death, but now Tim becomes a suspect in a second woman's death. Meanwhile, as a partner in a security construction firm that's prospered in the wake of 9/11, Tim is focused on his company's part in the building of the Federal Center, a huge complex funded by the U.S. government, in Newark, N.J. The president is due to appear at the center's opening festivities. Det. Jonathon Novack believes Tim's a stone-cold killer and is eager to arrest him. Rosenfelt keeps the plot hopping and popping as he reveals a complex frameup of major proportions with profound political ramifications both terrifying and enlightening. Author tour. (July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal
Rosenfelt's first stand-alone novel (after six Andy Carpenter mysteries, including Play Dead and Dead Center) is a riveting thriller that should boost him to best-seller status. Unjustly suspected of killing his wife in a boating accident, Tim Wallace, co-owner of a construction company, is shadowed by Jonathon Novack, a relentless homicide detective who knows in his gut he's chasing a killer. Then, in a bar one New Year's Eve, Tim encounters a drunk who confesses to having murdered a woman three months earlier. When her death is linked to his wife's, the first of many surprises to come, Tim goes on the run, pursued by Detective Novack and the FBI. As complications mount (even the president's life will be at risk), Tim must unravel a horrifying plot featuring him as the mastermind of an unprecedented terrorist attack. Compelling twists and turns, a lightning-fast pace, and breathtaking suspense make this a harrowing ride equal to James Patterson's or Harlan Coben's best. Marred only slightly by a conclusion that seems a bit rushed, the book deserves a wide audience and is highly recommended for popular fiction collections. [Library marketing campaign planned.-Ed.]
—Ron Terpening
Kirkus Reviews
Shortly after his wife is killed, a New Jersey contractor is pulled into a freakish case of murder and terrorism. Sitting alone in the familiar Fort Lee bar his buddies Danny McCabe and Will Clampett have dragged him to in order to drink in the new year, Tim Wallace is nonplussed when a stranger confides that he murdered a young woman named Sheila, cut off her finger and buried her body in a park in nearby Kinnelon. Tim's not eager to take this wild story to Det. Jonathon Novack, who still suspects him of blowing up his boat and his wife. And when he does, he's immediately sorry. True, the cops do dig up a fingerless corpse just where the informant said it would be. But the missing finger turns up right under Tim's nose, with a horrifying additional surprise that instantly makes him Novack's prime suspect. Clearly, someone's taken considerable pains to set Tim up-someone who knows a great deal about his patsy. But is it Danny, Will or his dog-walking acquaintance Eden Alexander? And what power will Tim have to wrest back control of his life from his enemy once he's decided to take it on the lam?The creator of attorney Andy Carpenter (Play Dead, 2007, etc.) can't resist a good punch line or still another plot twist. But he delivers a fast, inventive stand-alone thriller you'll never put down unfinished.
From the Publisher
Praise for David Rosenfelt“Rosenfelt concocts a taut thriller full of whiplash plot twists and wisecracking dialogue . . . proving that he’s long since earned his crime-novelist pedigree.”
—-Entertainment Weekly on Play Dead
“A cracking good yarn . . . There is no way you can read this novel without becoming completely caught up in the story. As always, Andy’s offbeat, outspoken personality shines on every page, and the balance of humor and mystery is dead-on. There is nothing else to say about this fine novel except this: read it as soon as you can.”
—-Booklist on Play Dead
“If there aren’t any real-life lawyers as entertaining, as witty, and as willing to tilt at windmills as Andy Carpenter . . . then there should be. . . . Written with flair and humor, this is perfect light reading.”
—-Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Dead Center
“A clever plot and breezy style . . . An absorbing legal thriller.”
—-The Boston Globe on Bury the Lead
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
This fast-paced and brightly written tale spins along.… Don't Tell a Soul is a humdinger.
Booklist (starred)
High-voltage entertainment from an author who plots and writes with verve and wit…Rosenfelt ratchets up tension with the precision of a skilled auto mechanic wielding a torque wrench.
Entertainment Weekly
Rosenfelt has earned his crime-novelist pedigree.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
[Rosenfelt] has pulled together a cynical political thriller that rings true in this age of terrorism, media hype and Washington scandals…. it's an enjoyable tale.
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