Detailed item info | Size | | Length: | 340 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in. | | Width: | 6.8 in. | | Thickness: | 1.2 in. | | Weight: | 19.2 oz. |
| | Publisher's Note | In Judy Mercer's acclaimed suspense novels one thing is certain: nothing is ever quite what it seems. This terrifying premise has entangled Mercer's memorable heroine, TV newsmagazine producer Ariel Gold, in two superb thrillers: Fast Forward, hailed as "one of the best suspense novels of the year" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and Double Take. Now, in her eagerly awaited new novel, Judy Mercer ingeniously twists a sensational unsolved murder into a uniquely personal crisis for the determined but vulnerable Ariel.... First there was a phone call, then a chance encounter on a Brentwood street. He tells Ariel his name is Jack Spurling, and he seems astounded that she has forgotten him. But Ariel is a thirty-three-year-old woman with only one year of memory, the rest of her life erased by amnesia. Why should she remember Spurling in particular? Then she learns that he was at the center of one of the most notorious stories she ever covered -- the story of a man who many believe got away with the murder of his wife. With her own missing history aching like a lost limb, Ariel is compelled to reconstruct the events leading up to the trial, which ended in a hung jury. And the closer she gets to Jack Spurling, the more she wants to believe in his innocence. A man of confident, intimate charm, he stirs long-dormant feelings in Ariel -- and her own attraction brings on a powerful compulsion to unearth the truth. But when Ariel digs deeper into Spurting's past, she uncovers a sordid tale -- a party years ago that degenerated into a whirpool of adultery, jealousy, and violence. And the events set in motion that evening, on a yacht far out at sea, are only now coming to a climax...giving Ariel just one chance to decide between what she feels in her heart and what she knows in her gut. A novel of electrifying suspense that snakes to a shocking conclusion, Split Image proves that Judy Mercer is a first-class writer at the pinnacle of her craft.
When a mysterious man resurfaces in her life, TV producer and recent amnesia victim Ariel Gold doesn't remember him, but finds herself falling for him. Then Ariel learns he was at the center of one of the most notorious stories she ever covered--concerning a man who may have gotten away with the murder of his wife.
| | Industry reviews | TV producer Ariel Gold steps in as on-air investigative reporter in her somewhat disappointing third outing, a slapdash follow-up to Double Take, which left Gold suffering traumatic amnesia after the murder of her twin sister. The first few chapters recap the events of the previous novel: on a pleasure cruise, Eve Spurling goes overboard after an argument with her husband, Jack; only a hung jury has kept him from a murder conviction. Now Gold looks again into the Spurling case for her television show Open File. Additional tension is supplied by the fact that Gold interviewed Spurling during his trial two years ago. She suspects he knows things about her she can't remember about herself. Mercer uses this suspicion to manipulate the reader's interest but never delivers any clear answers for all the teasing even after Gold and Spurling begin an affair. Because Gold does not have a past, Mercer might have made her a new character, but does not, with the exception of Gold's weight loss, new wardrobe and appropriation of her dead twin's quirky sense of humor. Although the novel's first half makes smooth reading, extraneous characters clutter the stage in the second, and readers are likely to lose interest before the extremely untidy denouement. (Oct.) FYI: Double Take will be released simultaneously in paperback by Pocket.
Bukey
|
|
Portions of this page Copyright 1995 - 2009 Muze Inc.  All rights reserved. |
Back to home page
) 
Okeedokys Books and Everything Else
Print
Report item
and your 