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With page-turning ferocity, Will Staeger delivers
a stylistic blend of riveting action, thrilling
suspense, and starkly alluring characters in this
classic tale of espionage laced with a twist of
modern-day terror...
PAINKILLER...
 The
quasi-retired, Virgin Islands-based CIA operative known
only as W. Cooper lives his life free-diving and
philandering along a quarter-mile of white sand -- a
necessary slice of paradise for a man seeking to kill
the pain of torturous memories. His life of leisure is
rudely interrupted, however, when he's tapped by the
local police to "dispose" of a bullet-ridden,
mysteriously scarred body deposited on the island's
shore by a passing hurricane. Sensing the cops are
merely looking to duck the labor of a proper homicide
investigation, Cooper declines -- only to encounter a
haunting form of déjà vu that brings with it a strange
sense of comradeship with the anonymous victim. Knowing
he'd be better off leaving well enough alone, Cooper
decides to investigate where no one else seems willing.
At CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, junior analyst
Julie Laramie discovers, almost by accident, evidence of
a massive, clandestine military buildup in China -- and
elsewhere. Alerting her superiors in her typically
alarmist fashion, she's reprimanded for violating Agency
protocol and told to leave policymaking to the elected
officials. Like Cooper, Laramie knows she should walk
away, but her gut drives her on a course toward career
suicide -- and a bounty of evidence only she seems to
see. What she sees? A labyrinthine, untraceable
terrorist plot designed to cripple the United States.
 Led
down parallel paths littered with a uniquely dark and
compelling cast of enemies -- a zombifying Haitian witch
doctor, a slave-trading albino serial killer, and a
Creatine-boosted behemoth bodybuilder to name just three
-- Cooper and Laramie find themselves drawn together
from opposite ends of a terrifying conspiracy. With the
clock ticking down, the two realize they may be all that
stands in the way of the annihilation of the existing
world order.
A dynamic and complex story featuring powerful writing,
magnetic characters, and a terrifyingly realistic
premise, Will Staeger's debut marks him as the newest
star on the thriller horizon. So beware... like the
Caribbean cocktail with which this book shares its name,
Painkiller is deceptively tasty -- but exceedingly
dangerous.
Available now in hardcover from William Morrow.
For the publisher's pages on Will Staeger and
Painkiller,
click here.
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