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    The Devil Went Down to Austin (Tres Navarre Series #4)

    4.0 9

    by Rick Riordan

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    Rick Riordan is the author of six previous Tres Navarre novels—Big Red Tequila, winner of the Shamus and Anthony Awards; The Widower’s Two-Step, winner of the Edgar Award; The Last King of Texas; The Devil Went Down to Austin; Southtown; and Mission Road. He is also the author of the acclaimed thriller Cold Springs and the young adult novel The Lightning Thief. Rick Riordan lives with his family in San Antonio, Texas.

    Brief Biography

    Hometown:
    San Antonio, TX
    Date of Birth:
    June 5, 1964
    Place of Birth:
    San Antonio, TX
    Education:
    B.A. in English and History, University of Texas

    Read an Excerpt

    Date: Wed 07 June 2000 19:53:16 -0500

    From: <host@ashield.com>

    X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Macintosh; I; PPC)

    To: <host@ashield.com>

    Subject: drowning

    The first time I knew I would kill? I was six years old.

    I’d snuck some things from the kitchen, vials of food coloring, Dixie cups, a pitcher of water. I was in my bedroom mixing potions, watching how the dyes curl in the water.

    That doesn’t sound like much, I know. But I’d spilled a few cupfuls onto the carpet. My fingers were stained purple. It was enough to give the Old Man an excuse.

    He came in so quietly I didn’t hear him, didn’t know he was standing over me until I caught his smell, like sweet smoked beef. He said something like, “Is this what we clean the house for? We clean the house so you can do this?”

    Then I realized water was running in the bathroom. I remembered what my friend had said.

    I tried to apologize, but the Old Man caught my wrists, dragged me backward, using my arms as a harness.

    I kicked at the carpet and walls as he pulled me down the hallway. When we passed the bathroom doorjamb, I got one hand loose and grabbed at it, but the Old Man just yanked harder, ripping a nail off my finger.

    The ceiling sparkled white. I remember bare avocado rings on the shower rod, plastic star-rivets holding up the mirror. The Old Man lifted me, squeezed me against his chest. I was clawing, grabbing at his clothes. Then he dumped me in. The cold stopped my blood. I floated, wet to my armpits, my clothes grafted to my chest, heavy.

    I knew better than to try standing. I lay low, crying, the water nipping the backs of my ears. My mouth tasted salt. There was a comma of blood from my ripped nail on the Old Man’s shirt pocket, purple smudges from my dyed fingers on his chest.

    He said, “What did you do wrong? Tell me what you were doing.”

    His voice sounded kindly in the tiled acoustics of the bathroom, rich and deep.

    I couldn’t answer. I cried.

    “I don’t want to hear that,” he scolded. “Until you can tell me what you did, I don’t want any sound from you.”

    I kept crying, knowing it was the wrong thing to do, but crying more because of that. So he leaned over me, pushed my chest, and the water closed over my head.

    Sound turned to aluminum. I could hear my own struggling and splashing. Water lapped into the overflow drain, rushed through pipes in the walls like underground machinery.

    The Old Man shimmered above me, his hand keeping a warm, constant clamp on the middle of my chest. I clawed at his wrist, but it might as well have been a mesquite branch.

    I held my breath, which is hard when you’re facing up, the water flooding your nostrils, gagging you.

    I tried to be still. I thought maybe if I were still, the Old Man would let go.

    I studied the hazy balls of light above the sink.

    My lungs burned.

    And finally, the first clear decision I ever remember making, I gave up. I breathed in the water.

    At that moment, as if he knew, the bastard lifted me out, rolled me onto the tiled floor.

    I curled, cold and trembling, belching water, my throat on fire.

    “Be grateful,” he said. “Be grateful for what you have.”

    That was only the first time.

    Over the years, he taught me that drowning a thing you hate, drowning it well and drowning it completely, is a slow process. It is an art only the patient can master.

    And I learned to be patient. I’ll always credit the Old Man for that.

    Table of Contents

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    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
     
    Rick Riordan, triple-crown winner of the Edgar, Anthony, and Shamus Awards, brings his fast-talking, hard-living, Texas-hip P.I. Tres Navarre to the heart of the Lone Star State—Austin—to unravel a case so dark, twisted, and deadly, it can only involve family....

    Tres Navarre, the P.I. with a Ph.D. in literature, heads to Austin for a laid-back summer teaching gig. But he’s in store for a whole lot more. His big brother Garrett—computer whiz, Jimmy Buffett fanatic, and all-around eccentric—is hoping to retire a multimillionaire by the fall. He’s bet his career and the Navarre family ranch to do it.

    Then Garrett’s oldest friend and business partner is murdered—and Garrett is the only suspect. As Tres delves into Garrett’s bizarre world to find the truth behind the murder, he comes face to face with the damaged relationships, violent lives, and billion-dollar schemes of a high-tech world gone haywire. Connecting them all is beautiful Lake Travis and the shocking secret that lies within its depths. Now, as Tres struggles with his own troubled family past and to clear his brother’ s name, he finds himself stalked by a cold-blooded killer—one who could spell the death of both Navarres.

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    From the Publisher
    "If not the king of texas crime writing, Rick Riordan is certainly among the princes!"—Denver Post

    "A heady nightcap of sass and suspense with a twist of mayhem."—Austin Chronicle

    "Sarcastic humor, memorable characters, and spectacular action scenes round out a spellbinding adventure."—Library Journal

    Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
    Powerful writing about a palpable evil distinguishes Edgar, Anthony and Shamus award-winner Riordan's fourth Tres Navarre novel. The tough, wisecracking PI and English professor moves himself and the action from his San Antonio base to Austin, where he expects simply to teach University of Texas students and visit with his brother, Garrett. But instead of tackling Beowulf he must tackle a different quest, a different monster. Garrett, software genius and free spirit, has launched a startup company called Techsan Security Software, with his friend Jimmy and Jimmy's wife as partners. Enter a truly nasty character who devours startup companies like Techsan, leaving a trail of ruined or dead owners in his wake. Techsan's brilliant beginnings lead to a takeover offer, while the offer's rejection leads to troubles that threaten to destroy the company and the Navarre family ranch, which Garrett has used as security. Soon one of Garrett's partners is dead, Garrett's the prime suspect and Tres is digging desperately for any foothold that will keep his brother from jail. An extremely skillful writer, Riordan manages a complicated plot without losing narrative force. Even the potentially distracting use of periodic asides, in the form of e-mails from the killer about his past crimes, serves to heighten tension and provide a focus for the reader. Then there's the spectacular, unforgettable description of a dive into a preserved pecan orchard at the bottom of a man-made lake. Some blatant misdirection may disgruntle certain readers, but this is a mere quibble with a book sure to enhance the author's solid reputation. (June 5) Forecast: Backed by blurbs from Dennis Lehane, Tami Hoag and Harlan Coben, this book is a dead cert for genre bestseller lists. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
    Library Journal
    Garrett, the wheelchair-bound brother of PI Tres Navarre (The Last King of Texas), has risked the family ranch on a promising start-up venture involving a software encryption product. Unfortunately for Garrett and his argumentative partners best friend Jimmy and Jimmy's now ex-wife the nasty, scuba-diving banker/entrepreneur interested in buying the product has sabotaged their test sites in order to force a cheap sale. When someone murders Jimmy, the police blame Garrett, which catapaults Navarre into action. Clipped prose speeds the action along as Navarre's old flame joins the fray. Sarcastic humor, memorable characters, and spectacular action scenes round out a spellbinding adventure. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/00.] Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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