Books by John Osier
Rankin: Enemy of the State
by John Osier
Bounty hunters and security police pursue Rankin through post-nuclear war America for defying the new, dictatorial government
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Edge
Behind the well-known U.S. security organizations— the FBI and CIA among them—lies a heavily guarded, anonymous government agency dedicated to intelligence surveillance and to a highly specialized brand of citizen protection.
Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of Henry Loving, a seasoned, ruthless “lifter” hired to obtain information using whatever means necessary. While Loving is deft at torture, his expertise lies in getting an “edge” on his victim—leverage—usually by kidnapping or threatening family until the “primary” caves under pressure.
The job of keeping the Kessler family alive falls to a man named Corte, a senior federal protection officer known as a “shepherd.” Uncompromising, relentlessly devoted to protecting those in his care and a passionate board game aficionado, he applies brilliant gaming strategy to his work. For Corte, the reappearance of Loving—the man who, six years earlier, had tortured and killed someone close to him—is also an opportunity to avenge his friend’s death. The assignment soon escalates into a fast-paced duel between Corte and Loving, a dangerous volley of wits and calculated risks.
As he shepherds the Kesslers to a concealed safe house, Corte must anticipate Loving’s every step as the lifter moves in on his prey, and with the help of razor-sharp investigator Claire DuBois and his longtime ally, FBI agent Paul Fredericks, pinpoint which of Kessler’s seemingly insignificant cases has triggered Loving’s return. As the team digs deeper, each of the Kesslers comes under close scrutiny, and in captivity their family bonds are stretched to the breaking point—as the lifter draws near, Corte must ultimately choose between protecting his charges and exposing them to a killer in the name of long-awaited revenge.
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Edge
Product description
Book by Osier, John
From Publishers Weekly
A wealthy landowner with a firm grip on a town's politics, a tough-talking waitress with a heart of gold and a middle-aged drifter at a crossroads in his life are some of the familiar characters Osier ( Covenant at Coldwater ) attempts to develop in this lackluster novel. Former high school teacher Ben Hill is traveling aimlessly and brooding over his divorce when he has the misfortune to crash into a wandering cow, demolishing his Buick, then staggers, dazed and penniless, into a bleak Arkansas hamlet called Edge. The cow belonged to Luther Bonewright, a prominent rancher who holds considerable clout over Edge's police department. Marooned without transportation and treated with hostility by the town's mean-spirited citizens, Ben works as a house painter and begins paying his fines. He is befriended by Darrell Dicus, a disturbed, alcoholic Vietnam vet who is suspected by the wretchedly oppressive local police of killing and mutilating a number of Luther's cows. The community's mean- spiritedness wreaks a terrible revenge upon Darrell, but Ben is able to exorcise old ghosts and move on, strengthened and encouraged. Unfortunately, the novel, riddled with cliches and burdened with sketchy and half-hearted sequences, remains lethargic and weak.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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