The October List
Starred Review. Thriller Award–winner Deaver (Edge) delivers a clever, demanding stand-alone that moves backward in time over the span of a three-day weekend, from Sunday evening to early Friday morning. In the first chapter, office manager Gabriela McKenzie, whose six-year-old daughter, Sarah, has been kidnapped, waits in her Manhattan apartment for news from fund manager Daniel Reardon, who&'s attempting to deal with kidnapper Joseph Astor. Gabriela must not only pay a $500,000 ransom but also fork over the mysterious October List, which belongs to her former boss Charles Prescott, the head of Prescott Investments, who has fled from a police investigation. As the ingenious plot folds back on itself, the reader has to reevaluate and reinterpret the constantly shifting facts in the case. The finished picture finally emerges with a shock of recognition. This is brilliant craftsmanship in a vastly entertaining package. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Oct.)