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Overview
For ex-cop Jack Whalen, it all begins with a visitfrom a childhood friend, a lawyer who needs Jack's help. The family of a noted scientist has been senselessly, brutally murdered, and the scientist is nowhere to be found.
But Jack has more pressing concerns. The past that drove him from the L.A.P.D. continues to haunt him. And his wife has disappeared during a routine business trip to Seattle. She never checked into her hotel, she isn't answering her cell phone. She is gone.
A third missing person, a little girl in Oregon, is found miles away. But it soon becomes obvious that she is not an innocent victim . . . and far from defenseless.
Something very strange is happening—a perplexing series of troubling events that's leading Jack Whalen into the shadows. And the secrets buried there are unlike anything he, or anyone, could possibly have imagined.
Synopsis
For ex-cop Jack Whalen, it all begins with a visit from a childhood friend, a lawyer who needs Jack's help. The family of a noted scientist has been senselessly, brutally murdered, and the scientist is nowhere to be found.
But Jack has more pressing concerns. The past that drove him from the L.A.P.D. continues to haunt him. And his wife has disappeared during a routine business trip to Seattle. She never checked into her hotel, she isn't answering her cell phone. She is gone.
A third missing person, a little girl in Oregon, is found miles away. But it soon becomes obvious that she is not an innocent victim . . . and far from defenseless.
Something very strange is happening—a perplexing series of troubling events that's leading Jack Whalen into the shadows. And the secrets buried there are unlike anything he, or anyone, could possibly have imagined.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
Although there is nothing showy or even stylish about his prose, Mr. Marshall (whose other credits include The Straw Men) tells a nerve-racking story full of bizarre twists. That it initially offers so little only adds to its later surprise value. The Intruders, which seems like such a ploddingly literal-minded title for a book that begins with a home invasion, turns out to signal a sci-fi horrific strain, one that guarantees puzzling questions about the characters' true identities and motives…Mr. Marshall recalls Stephen King's ability to set a story in the world of the commonplace, then suddenly jolt it into a more hellish realm. He also has some of Mr. King's ability to rivet attention with eerie surprises. It's not necessary to believe this book's spooky underlying premise to be caught up in the campfire-tale power of its action.
Editorials
Janet Maslin
Although there is nothing showy or even stylish about his prose, Mr. Marshall (whose other credits include The Straw Men) tells a nerve-racking story full of bizarre twists. That it initially offers so little only adds to its later surprise value. The Intruders, which seems like such a ploddingly literal-minded title for a book that begins with a home invasion, turns out to signal a sci-fi horrific strain, one that guarantees puzzling questions about the characters' true identities and motives…Mr. Marshall recalls Stephen King's ability to set a story in the world of the commonplace, then suddenly jolt it into a more hellish realm. He also has some of Mr. King's ability to rivet attention with eerie surprises. It's not necessary to believe this book's spooky underlying premise to be caught up in the campfire-tale power of its action.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Marshall (The Straw Men) outdoes his own high standards with this potent blend of suspense, paranoia and just plain creepiness. Jack Whalen, a former L.A. cop, is pursuing a new career as a writer in an idyllic small town just east of Seattle when weird things start to undermine his pursuit of the American dream. First, an old acquaintance from Jack's childhood suddenly turns up with a strange tale about a double homicide; then Jack's wife, an advertising executive, disappears briefly on a business trip. Is he going crazy, or is she leading some sort of secret life? And what about these disturbing spells he keeps having, these fleeting sensations of otherness, in which his own existence is unfamiliar to him? Meanwhile, down the coast in Portland, a nine-year-old girl having similar visions has gone missing. As Jack investigates, he stumbles onto a secret much darker than he ever could have anticipated. Marshall ingeniously threads these strands together into a provocative and supremely intelligent thriller that reads like a cross between Andrew Klavan and Philip K. Dick. (Aug.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Making his hardcover U.S. debut, British thriller writer Marshall (The Straw Men) introduces readers to Jack Whalen, a former LAPD officer who wrote a book about crime scenes in Los Angeles. He and wife, Amy, now live in Washington State, where he's attempting to write another book while she pursues a successful career as an ad agency executive. Jack's feeling that something is not right in his marriage is confirmed when he tries to contact Amy at her hotel during a business trip and there is no sign that his wife has ever checked in. The same day, he gets a visit from an old high school friend who asks him to investigate a home invasion and murder in Seattle. As Jack struggles to discover the truth about his wife, he is drawn into something far larger and more mysterious than he could ever have imagined. Readers will find it very hard to put down this well-written and somewhat spooky novel. Strongly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ4/15/07; Marshall also writes sf and horror under the name Michael Marshall Smith; out this month is The Servantsfrom Earthling Publications.-Ed.]
—Lisa O'Hara