Dead in a Week, Forensic Instincts #7, Zermatt Group #1, by Andrea Kane
ISBN: 9781682320297 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781682320310 (ebook)
ISBN: 9781541484603 (audiobook)
ASIN: B07MB48Q7Q (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Bonnie Meadow Publishing
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound.org | Booksamillion | Kobo ebook | Downpour Audiobook
What would you do if your daughter was kidnapped and given only a week to live?
Lauren Pennington is celebrating her junior year abroad when life comes to a screeching halt. At Munich’s Hofbräuhaus, she engages in an innocent flirtation with a charming stranger for the length of a drink. Drink finished, Lauren leaves—only to be snatched from the streets and thrown into an unmarked van.
Officially, Aidan Deveraux is a communications expert for one of the largest financial firms in the world. In his secret life, the former Marine heads the Zermatt Group, a covert team of military and spy agency operatives that search the data stream for troubling events in an increasingly troubled world. When his artificial intelligence system detects Lauren’s kidnapping, Aidan immediately sees the bigger picture.
Silicon Valley: Lauren’s father, Vance Pennington, is about to launch a ground-breaking technology with his company NanoUSA—a technology that the Chinese are desperate for. No sooner does Aidan arrive on Vance’s doorstep to explain the situation than the father receives a chilling text message: hand over the technology or Lauren will be dead in a week.
In a globe-spanning chase, from the beer halls of Germany, to the tech gardens of California, to the skyscrapers of China, and finally the farmlands of Croatia, Aidan’s team cracks levels of high-tech security and complex human mystery with a dogged determination. Drawing in teammates from the Forensic Instincts team (introduced in The Girl Who Disappeared Twice), the Zermatt Group will uncover the Chinese businessmen responsible, find the traitors within NanoUSA who are helping them, and save Lauren from a brutal death.
Lauren Pennington is nothing more than an American foreign-exchange student, biding her time in Germany during her break when an attractive man sits down at a renowned bar and has a drink with her. A few minutes later, Lauren has disappeared. Her family in the US knows nothing of her disappearance, but they will because Lauren has been taken as leverage. Lauren’s father, Vance Pennington, is a high-ranking executive with a company about to introduce breakthrough technology in the communication industry. Little does he know that he’ll have to choose between his career, company, country, and his daughter’s life in the latest addition to Andrea Kane’s Forensic Instincts series, Dead in a Week. Fortunately, for Lauren and her parents, Aiden Deveraux has a secretive and behind-the-scenes company, the Zermatt Group, that intuited Lauren’s disappearance from the global computer surveillance and the reasons why well before her father was even contacted by the kidnappers. Now the question becomes, can Aiden, along with a few employees from Forensic Instincts, beat the deadline provided to Vance Pennington, locate and successfully retrieve Lauren before Vance has to do the unthinkable?
Dead in a Week is the seventh book in the Forensic Instincts series and the first to introduce us to the Zermatt Group. This taut suspense-thriller is filled with covert spy-like operations within the US and abroad all in an effort to thwart the kidnappers and the loss of corporate technological secrets to a foreign company. Aiden Deveraux is the defacto head of the Zermatt Group and brother to Mark Deveraux, a member of the Forensic Instincts team. Like Marc, Aiden is well-connected internationally and very well trained, militarily speaking. It is primarily due to Aiden’s connections that the Zermatt Group is able to search for Lauren in such a short period of time, bouncing from New York, to California, to Germany and Croatia, and then back stateside. The investigation is multi-modal as well in that it uses high-tech computer skills and technicians as well as highly-intuitive “agents” for lack of a better term. The head computer guru is a female, as is the intuitive business management operative. The covert and military-style operations are carried out by Aiden, Marc, and one of Aiden’s British compatriots. Needless to say, there’s a lot going on in this story: a kidnapping, family angst and drama over the kidnapping, corporate politicking and machinations, international corporate espionage/blackmail, and more. If you’ve read any of the previous Forensic Instincts books and enjoyed them as much as I did, then you’ll definitely want to grab a copy of Dead in a Week to read. Even if you haven’t read any of the previous books in the Forensic Instincts series, I think it’s possible to read Dead in a Week and not be lost by any of the previous action. If you’ve read some of Ms. Kane’s historical fiction but haven’t read any of her suspense-thrillers or romantic-suspense books, then I suggest you start with Dead in a Week and then backtrack to the beginning of the Forensic Instincts series, you can thank me later. Seriously, go get a copy of this book ASAP!
Andrea Kane
Andrea Kane is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including fifteen psychological thrillers and fourteen historical romantic suspense titles. With her signature style, Kane creates unforgettable characters and confronts them with life-threatening danger. As a master of suspense, she weaves them into exciting, carefully-researched stories, pushing them to the edge—and keeping her readers up all night.
Kane’s first contemporary suspense thriller, Run for Your Life, became an instant New York Times bestseller. She followed with a string of bestselling psychological thrillers including No Way Out, Twisted, and Drawn in Blood.
Her latest in the highly successful Forensic Instincts series, Dead in a Week, adds the Zermatt Group into the mix—a covert team of former military and spy agency operatives. With a week to save a young woman from ruthless kidnappers, this globe-spanning chase, from the beer halls of Germany, to the tech gardens of California, to the skyscrapers of China, and finally, the farmlands of Croatia will keep readers guessing until the very end. The first showcase of Forensic Instincts’ talents came with the New York Times bestseller, The Girl Who Disappeared Twice, followed by The Line Between Here and Gone, The Stranger You Know, The Silence that Speaks, The Murder That Never Was, and A Face to Die For.
Kane’s beloved historical romantic suspense novels include My Heart’s Desire, Samantha, Echoes in the Mist, and Wishes in the Wind.
With a worldwide following of passionate readers, her books have been published in more than twenty languages.
Kane lives in New Jersey with her husband and family. She’s an avid crossword puzzle solver and a diehard Yankees fan. Otherwise, she’s either writing or playing with her Pomeranian, Mischief, who does his best to keep her from writing.
Catch Up With Our Author On: AndreaKane.com, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook!
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This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Andrea Kane. There will be 6 winners. One winner (1) will receive an Amazon.com Gift Card and five (5) winners will receive an eBook copy of Dead In A Week. The giveaway begins on March 18, 2019, and runs through April 21, 2019. Void where prohibited.
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