North of Nowhere

by Steve Hamilton, Dan John Miller (Read by)

Overview

Lying face down on the floor with a gun to the back of his head is where Alex McKnight finds himself after a game of cards turns into a professional heist at the home of local developer Win Vargas. When the dust settles, McKnight is one of police chief Roy Maven’s lead suspects. Worse, Vargas’s own sense of vigilante justice has targeted the former private eye as well, and the brash millionaire may be responsible for the sudden disappearance of Alex’s best friend Jackie. Now, with officials pointed in the wrong direction and his closest allies either missing or in jail, Alex knows he is the only one who can uncover the truth. But McKnight can’t possibly know how dark this conspiracy truly is – or how close to guilt he actually stands…

“Agreeable plot twists (the revelation of whodunit really is a surprise) and thoughtfully engages some larger questions about wilderness real estate developments and the limits of friendship.” – Washington Post

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212388948
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Series:	The Alex McKnight Series , #4
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Steve Hamilton is the two-time Edgar Award–winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Alex McKnight series (with over a million copies sold), the Nick Mason series, and the stand-alone novel The Lock Artist. Two of his novels have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and he’s one of only three authors in history to win Edgar Awards for both Best First Novel and Best Novel. Other major awards include the Shamus, the Barry, the AMA Alex Award, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller. He was born and raised in the Detroit area and attended the University of Michigan, where he received the prestigious Hopwood Award for Fiction.

Dan John Miller is an American actor and musician, having appeared in Walk the Line, Leatherheads and My One and Only. Dan has garnered two Audie nominations, several AudioFile Golden Earphones Awards and a Listen-Up Award from Publishers Weekly, and has been twice named a Best Voice by AudioFile magazine. He has narrated books by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Roth and many others. Dan lives in the Detroit, Michigan, area with his wife and their daughter.

Editorial Reviews

No longer a cop, inactive as a private eye, classic loner Alex McKnight has retreated to his lakeside cabin in this superb yarn, Edgar-winner Hamilton's fourth after 2001's The Hunting Wind. In fact, Alex has become so much a recluse in the little town of Paradise in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that his few friends are worried about him. That leads Jackie Connery, the Scottish-raised proprietor of the bar where Alex sometimes hangs out, to badger him into joining a friendly power game at the home of Win Vargas. Before Alex can even work up a good dislike of the blustery, wealth-flaunting Vargas, three armed men interrupt the poker game. While Alex, Jackie and the other players are held at gunpoint, their host is led off to open a safe and his treasured collection of artifacts in trashed or stolen. From that quick beginning, events move swiftly and strangely. Alex finds Vargas's suspicions centering on him; the police, let my old enemy Chief Roy Maven, think Jack and the other players were in on the robbery. And Alex's ex-partner, PI Leon Prudell, turns out to have yet another take on who's behind the robbery. Hamilton keeps the action fast and furious and manages to keep the read off balance almost as much as his hero. As usual, Alex takes more than his share of lumps as he rediscovers the importance of friendship, loyalty and courage. While Alex McKnight would probably hate the idea, mysteries this good may make him extremely popular. Agent, Jane Chelius. (May 13) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Alex McKnight owns a small group of rustic cottages on the north edge of Michigan near Lake Superior. His retreat from society is interrupted by well-meaning friend Jackie, who forces him out of his hideaway for an evening of poker. When the game is interrupted by a well-planned burglary and Jackie is arrested for it, Alex is determined to clear him. The tangle proves more complex and dangerous than Alex had expected, but he stubbornly looks for answers. Nick Sullivan has narrated all four of Hamilton's mysteries featuring Alex, and he is clearly in sync with the material. He reads with an intensity that portrays Alex's single-minded concentration on whatever task confronts him, yet he can slow his pace to allow the listener to enjoy the wry humor laced throughout much of the story. Sullivan's deep voice is suited to the hard-boiled detective genre; his interpretation of the disillusioned ex-cop and his colorful acquaintances includes gruff voices; Midwestern, Canadian and Scottish accents; and attentive pacing. Recommended for mystery collections.-Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Though all Michigan's Upper Peninsula is basking in rare balmy sunlight, it's the summer of Alex McKnight's discontent. Now that he's about to turn 50 without much to show for his half-century, the ex–minor-league catcher, ex-cop, ex–private cop, ex-husband, and current owner of six unprepossessing hunting and fishing cabins has turned hermit. And that worries his best friend Jackie Connery, proprietor of the Glasgow Inn, where Alex has not been dropping in for his customary tipple. Invading Alex's lair, Jackie all but kidnaps him for a friendly poker game at fat cat Win Vargas's swanky home. It turns out, however, that there's a lot more in the cards for all concerned than straights, flushes, and male bonding. Three gun-toting hard guys crash the party and break open the bedroom safe, departing with $700,000 of Vargas's money. A bad night is followed by a nightmarish day when Jackie and two other players, all Alex's close friends, are arrested by lunkheaded Chief of Police Roy Maven. The robbery was a conspiracy, the chief asserts; Alex's pals were in on it; and stuff stolen from Vargas has turned up in possession of all three. Certain his friends have been framed, Alex goes into overdrive trying to keep them out of jail. But then slowly, unsettlingly, he realizes that there's a definite hangdog look about them he doesn't associate with innocent men. Hamilton (The Hunting Wind, 2001, etc.) spins a brisk, well-plotted tale brightened by his usual deft way with local color.

Kirkus Reviews

"Superb...Hamilton keeps the action fast and furious and manages to keep the reader off balance."

— "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"

From the Publisher