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Overview
On a dank fall night at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York City, police uncover a grisly scene: the naked corpses of three murdered young women lying on the pier. Weirdly, their bodies are neatly arranged to form a perfect triangle, each face up with one eye glued open and the other shut. A gunshot wound to the side of each woman’s head confirms the initial impression that this was an execution-style killing.
Dr. Henry Liu—a brilliant forensic scientist—calls together the Global Interactive Forensics Team (GIFT) to investigate these brutal murders. Composed of the very best in the profession, this eclectic group of four men and one woman works together as a forensics SWAT team to solve bizarre and insidious crimes around the globe. So begins the intricate, suspense-filled plot of this exciting murder mystery, written by world-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee and critically acclaimed mystery writer Jerry Labriola, M.D.
Dr. Liu and his group boldly pursue leads that are fraught with danger and bloodshed. They encounter an assortment of strange and suspicious characters—including a descendent of the real life Dracula (who proudly displays his chain collection). Despite receiving a barrage of threats—as well as overtures from the frankly seductive Dr. Gail Merriday, a detective in his own group—Dr. Liu remains focused on the aim of his quest: to discover the identity of Mr. or Ms. Big—a top international criminal.
Fans of mystery novels, true crime, and forensic dramas like CSI, will not be able to put down this entertaining and suspenseful page-turner.
Synopsis
On a dank fall night at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York City, police uncover a grisly scene: the naked corpses of three murdered young women lying on the pier. Weirdly, their bodies are neatly arranged to form a perfect triangle, each face up with one eye glued open and the other shut. A gunshot wound to the side of each woman's head confirms the initial impression that this was an execution-style killing.
Dr. Henry Liu-a brilliant forensic scientist-calls together the Global Interactive Forensics Team (GIFT) to investigate these brutal murders. Composed of the very best in the profession, this eclectic group of four men and one woman works together as a forensics SWAT team to solve bizarre and insidious crimes around the globe. So begins the intricate, suspense-filled plot of this exciting murder mystery, written by world-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee and critically acclaimed mystery writer Jerry Labriola, M.D. Dr. Liu and his group boldly pursue leads that are fraught with danger and bloodshed. They encounter an assortment of strange and suspicious characters-including a descendent of the real life Dracula (who proudly displays his chain collection). Despite receiving a barrage of threats-as well as overtures from the frankly seductive Dr. Gail Merriday, a detective in his own group-Dr. Liu remains focused on the aim of his quest: to discover the identity of Mr. or Ms. Big-a top international criminal. Fans of mystery novels, true crime, and forensic dramas like CSI, will not be able to put down this entertaining and suspenseful page-turner.Publishers Weekly
The first fiction collaboration between medical doctors Lee and Labriola (coauthors of the true crime studies Dr. Henry Lee's Forensic Files and Famous Crimes Revisited) introduces Dr. Henry Liu, a forensics expert who, like his primary creator, worked on the O.J. Simpson case, the Jon Benet Ramsey investigation and the JFK assassination. As the head of the high-powered Global Interactive Forensics Team (or GIFT), Liu investigates the murder of three young women whose naked corpses are found arranged in a triangle at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York City. The promising setup, however, leads to an ordinary plot involving international white slavery. Admirers of the real Dr. Lee may be dismayed to see the pioneering scientific criminologist transformed into an action hero and babe-magnet, though CSI fans will find plenty to savor. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe Budapest Connection, the first novel by world-renowned forensic investigator Henry Lee (coauthored with Jerry Labriola), revolves around an elite team of internationally recognized forensic scientists and law enforcement specialists known as GIFT (Global Interactive Forensics Team). Comprising five members -- Henry Liu, one of the world's foremost criminalists; George Silvain and Karl Moser, forensic pathologists from New Jersey and Germany, respectively; Gail Merriday from London's Scotland Yard; and Jay Palmer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police -- the privately funded coalition operate like superheroes, utilizing a private jet to whisk them around the globe solving high-priority crimes and deciphering seemingly unsolvable cold cases. But when three murdered young women are found arranged in a triangle on a Brooklyn pier -- all shot in the left temple with one eye open and the other glued shut -- the members of GIFT are faced with a multilayered mystery involving white slavery that will lead them from the vineyards of the Finger Lakes region of New York to the backstreets of Eastern European cities and will make them targets of the Mafia, numerous Chinese criminal syndicates, and even a Romanian crime lord who is allegedly a descendent of Dracula!
While hordes of CSI fans will undoubtedly enjoy Lee's ambitious fiction debut, The Budapest Connection is far from a perfect novel. With the main protagonist, Liu, an obvious fictional version of Lee himself, numerous sequences become disturbingly self-indulgent -- especially the frequent (and thematically pointless) scenes involving a much younger Merriday practically throwing herself at the 58-year-old Liu. And while the conclusion of this novel is adequate, it lacks the bombshell ending that would've left readers undoubtedly salivating for more adventures involving GIFT. Paul Goat Allen