Or Else: A Thriller

by Joe Hart

Overview

Edgar Award Winner for Best Paperback Original.

A secret love becomes a fatal affair in a twisting novel of suspense by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Joe Hart.

When novelist Andy Drake returns to his hometown to care for his ailing father, a reconnection with his childhood friend Rachel escalates into a secret love affair. For Rachel, struggling to maintain the facade of a picture-perfect life, it’s an escape from an emotionally abusive marriage. Then Andy receives an anonymous note warning him to end the affair. Or else.

Whoever’s been watching is going to make Andy pay. Weeks later, Rachel’s husband, David, is shot to death. Rachel and her two young sons vanish without a trace. One misstep, one careless reveal, and Andy could look as guilty as sin. Clue by clue, as his investigation into the mystery unfolds, Andy discovers that he and Rachel weren’t the only ones keeping secrets.

Nothing in this quiet neighborhood is as it seems. No one peeking from behind the curtains of their homes can be trusted. And the worst is yet to come. Because David isn’t the only one who will die.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542035125
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/2022
Pages:	254
Sales rank:	376,546
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Joe Hart is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of fourteen novels, including The River Is Dark, Obscura, The Last Girl, and We Sang in the Dark. When not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising, exploring the great outdoors, and watching movies with his family. For more information on his upcoming novels and access to his blog, visit www.joehartbooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

03/28/2022

Thriller author Andy Drake, the narrator of this gripping thriller from Hart (Obscura), returns to Sandford, N.Y., to care for his ailing father, who’s slowly declining from dementia. Restless and lonely, Andy doesn’t hesitate when a hometown friend from his past, Rachel Worth, wants to start an affair. Though Andy knows that an affair with Rachel is risky, as her marriage to David Barren united the town’s most powerful families, he doesn’t fully understand the danger it poses until he receives an anonymous note threatening consequences if he fails to end it. When Rachel and her sons disappear after David is murdered in a possible home burglary, Andy decides to keep the note hidden, fearing the police will consider him a suspect if they learn of its existence. The tension builds as Andy searches for Rachel and the pieces in the puzzle of David’s murder start to snap into place. Andy’s guilt over his affair and the sorrow he feels for his father help humanize him. Hart remains a suspense writer to watch. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Hart remains a suspense writer to watch.” —Publishers Weekly

“Or Else is a thriller/suspense tour de force. Joe Hart has knocked it out of the park with a start-to-finish roller coaster ride of perfectly executed twists and expertly timed chills. Deep character development and rich narrative seals Or Else’s place as the not-to-be-missed domestic thriller/suspense of the year.” —Steven Konkoly, author of the Ryan Decker series and Deep Sleep

“The perfect thriller for a rainy afternoon, Or Else draws you into a web of small town secrets, lies, and intrigue and doesn’t let you go. Hart’s well-rendered setting and characters resonate like people and places you’ve known. Loved every minute of this absolute page-turner!” —D.M. Pulley, bestselling author of The Dead Key

“Joe Hart has written compelling stories before, but it’s in Or Else that he shows off just how good he is. This book checks all the boxes for me: a (seemingly) quiet, small town drama—filled with those little quirks and secrets nobody wants to talk about—that quickly blossoms into something big, sinister, and menacing. Hart doesn’t pull any punches on some serious issues, either: love, infidelity, family conflict…there’s plenty to think about right up to the explosive ending. THIS is the thriller you’ll be recommending for the foreseeable future.” —Matthew Iden, author of the Marty Singer series and The Winter Over

From the Publisher

2021-12-24
A mystery writer threatened with the disclosure of his adulterous affair soon realizes that that’s the least he has to fear.

“I know about you and Rachel,” says the anonymous note to Andy Drake. The truth is undeniable; in between rounds taking care of his widowed father, who has dementia, Andy’s been sneaking around the little town of Sandford, New York, with his old school friend for six months. But which of his neighbors in the close-knit community called the Loop is on to him? Before he can decide between the likes of eagle-eyed widow Mrs. Tross, mysterious new neighbor Allen Crane, and church usher Elliot Wyman, a rash of untimely deaths sweeps over the community. Parish administrator Mary Shelby is kicked to death by the horse she unaccountably approached from behind; Ryan Vallance, of the Valiant Lending Agency, is shot; so is his business partner, David Barren, who just happens to be Rachel’s husband. Worse still, Rachel and her sons, Asher and Joey, have vanished, and the week Detective Vince Spanner spends on the case produces no trace of them. Desperate, Andy ignores the fact that every authority figure from Spanner to Father Mathew Travers looks down their noses at him and starts to look for leads of his own. You might think that an author of fictional mysteries would be good at this, but the main results Andy achieves are to goad a nameless visitor to drop in and advise him to leave bad enough alone and provoke somebody to try to kill him and his father by turning on the gas to their kitchen stove without lighting it.

An unremarkable but effective time-killer.

Kirkus Reviews