Assault with a Deadly Lie: A Nick Hoffman Novel of Suspense

by Lev Raphael

Overview

Successful professor Nick Hoffman finds his secure, happy, college-town life changed forever after a nightmarish encounter with police. But even when that horrible night is over, life doesn't return to normal. Someone is clearly out to destroy him. Nick and his partner Stefan Borowski face an escalating series of threats that lead to a brutal and stunning confrontation.
            A novel of suspense set in the academic world, Assault with a Deadly Lie probes the disturbing psychological impact of slander, harassment, stalking, police brutality, and the loss of personal safety. What will Nick do when his world threatens to collapse? How can he reestablish order in a suddenly chaotic life?
            Assault with a Deadly Lie, the eighth installment of Lev Raphael's Nick Hoffman Mysteries, propels the series to a new level of danger and intrigue as Nick and Stefan are catapulted out of their tranquil existence by shocking accusations.

Finalist, Midwest Book Award for Mystery/Thriller Fiction, Midwest Independent Publishers Association

“A riveting great read for mystery/suspense fans, author Lev Raphael once again documents his impressive gifts as a storyteller, holding the reader’s rapt attention from beginning to end with unexpected plot twists and surprise twists.”—Jack Mason, Midwest Book Review
 
“Raphael portrays with frightening power the wrenching experience of victimization by the corporatized, PR-prioritized groves of academia, where both men teach, and by local authorities militarized into SWAT teams practicing police brutality. . . . The compelling core of this unusual novel is Raphael’s depiction of the agonizing reality of victims’ shame, in which someone ‘feels doubly exposed talking about the violation’ and so says nothing.”—Booklist
 
“Professor Nick Hoffman learns that even tenure can’t guarantee real security.”—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299302306
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	10/14/2014
Series:	A Nick Hoffman Novel of Suspense
Edition description:	1
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lev Raphael is the author of twenty-four books in genres from mystery to memoir, including The Edith Wharton Murders, Burning Down the House, and My Germany. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. He teaches creative writing at Michigan State University.

Editorial Reviews

08/04/2014
If most readers should be able early on to figure out the motive, if not the villain, in this novel, that doesn’t make Raphael’s eighth Nick Hoffman mystery (after 2007’s Hot Rocks) any less compelling. One warm May evening, police burst into the home of Nick Hoffman, an Edith Wharton scholar at the State University of Michigan, and haul off his partner, Stefan, with no explanation. This is but the first of a number of terrifying acts of harassment and intimidation. Throughout, Raphael deftly comments on the rights and freedoms lost since 9/11: everyone is suspect, and a militarized police force often stands above the law. Occasional references to pricey household appliances and fashions serve as reminders of the characters’ priorities pre-SWAT visit. Most interesting is the impact on two educated upper middle-class gay men in a seemingly idyllic college town and their terror in realizing how easily lives can be destroyed. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Lev Raphael breathes menace into his university setting, and brilliantly tightens the screws on the reader while driving his heroes to the brink with guns, drugs and violence.”—Justin Evans, author of The White Devil


“A splendidly written story of innocence, intrigue, and invisible enemies, Assault with a Deadly Lie waltzes beautifully between poignancy and terror. But better still is the question that will haunt readers long after the book is put down: Could this happen to me?”—P.J. Parrish, author of Heart of Ice


“From the first page to the last, this novel flies at breakneck speed, but it also mesmerizes as it unspools in perfect detail. Despite the placid surface, all is not quite right in Michiganapolis, and the breathless fun of this mystery isn’t just its twists and surprises, but also the utterly recognizable place and time and fully-formed characters with all their believable quirks and secrets. Lev Raphael hasn’t so much written a mystery as he has created a world and planted the reader at the center of it: Don’t start this one until you're ready to follow it anywhere!”—Laura Kasischke, author of The Raising


“College towns are sleepy places and government agencies keep us secure—right? Not in Lev Raphael’s exciting new novel. The action starts on the first page, and the tension and paranoia build in ways that are far too plausible. Sharply observed, smartly paced, but thoughtful and compassionate from beginning to end.”—Joseph Finder, author of Paranoia and High Crimes


“In Assault with a Deadly Lie, the ivory tower topples under a barrage of guns and violence. Nick Hoffman and his partner find that literature and an idyllic domestic life are no match for a deranged character’s revenge conspiracy.”—Lynn C. Miller, author of Death of a Department Chair


“Lev Raphael adds another literate and compulsively readable book to his acclaimed Nick Hoffman novels, and this may be the best one yet.”—Michael Nava, author of the Henry Rios mysteries


“A real winner—a controversial suspense novel that could easily have been torn from today’s headlines.”—Lansing State Journal


“It’s a terrifying thought: the idea that someone can accuse you of a crime, and a SWAT team shows up at your door and drags you away. . . . Raphael makes it quite clear that no one is immune.”—Mystery Scene

From the Publisher

2014-09-09
Professor Nick Hoffman (Hot Rocks, 2007, etc.) learns that even tenure can't guarantee real security.Fortune has finally smiled at Nick. He's now a full professor, thanks in no small part to a gift from a former student to Nick's employer, the State University of Michigan. The bequest, establishing a prestigious speaker's series, has named Nick the sole administrator of a $25,000 annual grant. While other faculty members are crammed into cubicles, Nick has his own office suite, complete with administrative assistant. He and his partner, SUM's writer-in-residence Stefan Borowski, along with their West Highland terrier, Marco, live in a splendid center-hall colonial in Michiganapolis, purchased in part with the proceeds from Stefan's best-selling book about his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Stefan's now at work on a second memoir, Fieldwork in the Land of Grief, about the trauma he sustained when a student he'd accused of plagiarism hanged himself outside Stefan's office. That trauma, however, is small potatoes compared to Stefan and Nick's current nightmare. First, their home is invaded by a SWAT team in armed personnel carriers, acting on a vague tip that the pair may be holding someone hostage. Stefan is arrested, strip-searched and jailed. Their boss, Dean Bullerschmidt, threatens to fire them for creating bad publicity. Someone smashes their laptop and leaves road kill on their bed. Their neighbor, whip-smart defense attorney Vanessa Liberati, a New York transplant, offers her help. But their true salvation comes from Stefan's mentor, Father Ryan Burke, who provides a solution that would gladden the heart of any NRA member. What looks at first like a sensitive exploration into competing values ends as an exercise in might-is-right. Raphael, co-author of Stick Up for Yourself: Every Kid's Guide to Personal Power & Positive Self-Esteem (1999), should know better.

Kirkus Reviews