The Guise of Another

by Allen Eskens Narrated by Jonathan Yen

Overview

A former Medal of Valor winner, Minnesota detective Alexander Rupert is now under subpoena by a grand jury on suspicion of corruption. So when he's asked to look into the false identity of a car-accident victim named James Putnam, a man who in fact died fifteen years earlier, Rupert sees a potentially big case and an opportunity to regain his respectability.




But the investigation puts him in the path of :the Beast," the nom de guerre of Drago Basta, a cunning veteran of the Balkan wars and a sociopath assassin who has been searching for Putnam for years. Putnam had something that Basta still wants.




If Rupert's life was in shambles before, it's now also in danger. Threatened by the Beast and suspecting his wife of cheating, Rupert falls for the seductions of the dead man's former girlfriend. As he feels his life spinning out of control, his steadfast brother and fellow police detective Max may be Rupert's last hope.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

Eskens's elegant but chilly prose, like winter in the blood, is well suited to this fiercely told morality tale…which is sure to send all of us wretched sinners straight to hell.

Publishers Weekly

★ 08/10/2015
Edgar-finalist Eskens follows his highly praised debut, The Life We Bury (2014), with an equally compelling second novel starring Alexander Rupert, a disgraced Minneapolis police detective. Toiling away in the fraud unit while a grand jury investigates charges that he stole drug money, Rupert happens upon a case that he believes could return him to the department’s good graces: a man who faked his death 15 years earlier in a boat accident off Coney Island has just died for real in a Minnesota car crash. Rupert wants to know who James Putnam really was and why he staged the coverup. While his own life continues to spiral toward the drain, Rupert finds himself increasingly attracted to Putnam’s former live-in girlfriend, a temptress with elusive motivations. Eskens moves his plot along in a spare, sure-handed manner, avoiding clichés and stock situations. Elevating the story further are several unexpected turns down the homestretch, as well as several well-crafted characters who serve as examples of how good people can succumb to weakness. Readers looking for a new voice should pay attention to Eskens. Agent: Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"Eskens's elegant but chilly prose, like winter in the blood, is well suited to this fiercely told morality tale (and its deeply cynical ending), which is sure to send all of us wretched sinners straight to hell."

--NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Readers looking for a new voice should pay attention to Eskens."

--Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

"With just two books to his name, I have put [Eskens] on my 'must read' list."

--Deadly Pleasures

"Eskens has conjured up a marvelously black spirit of a novel. It's a taut, intelligent, heart-ripping story that explores the darkest places in the human psyche. After each unexpected twist, you'll tell yourself things can't get any worse. And then they do."

―WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER, New York Times-bestselling author of the Edgar(R) Award-winning Ordinary Grace

"The talented Allen Eskens fulfills the rich promise of his Edgar(R)-nominated debut with this chilling, dark, and sinister thriller. With precision and authority, Eskens's determined cop hero takes one intriguing clue--and pursues it into spiraling disaster. With a deadly surprise around every corner and a bleak undercurrent of noir-like dread, this book will haunt you."

--HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Truth Be Told

"Another great, dark, and brooding page-turner from Allen Eskens, with a tragic protagonist who will break your heart. Eskens's characters will haunt you long after you finish reading."

--MICHAEL SEARS, award-winning author of the bestselling Jason Stafford series

AWARD RECOGNITION FOR ESKENS' DEBUT, THE LIFE WE BURY

WINNER! Left Coast Crime Rosebud Award, BEST DEBUT MYSTERY
WINNER! Barry Award, BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
WINNER! Silver Falchion Award, BEST FIRST NOVEL: traditional
2015 Edgar(R) Award Finalist, BEST FIRST NOVEL
Minnesota Book Award Finalist, BEST GENRE NOVEL
Anthony Award Finalist, BEST FIRST NOVEL
ITW Thriller Awards Finalist, BEST FIRST NOVEL
MysteryPeople 2014 BEST DEBUT NOVEL
Suspense Magazine BEST BOOKS OF 2014/DEBUT AUTHOR

PRAISE FOR THE LIFE WE BURY

"Thriller fans should keep their eyes on Eskens; he's a comer." --BOOKLIST

"Compulsively suspenseful." --BOOKPAGE

"[A] masterful debut...." --PW STARRED REVIEW

"An intelligent and compelling story with characters that will capture you from the start.... This debut novel never lets the reader off the edge of the seat--the mark of a great story." --THE BIG THRILL

"Set against the backdrop of a brutal Minnesota winter, The Life We Bury is much more than a satisfying, suspenseful novel.... This story kept me turning the pages, and it touched my heart. The characters are as real as my next-door neighbors, the story compelling, and the writing superb." --SUSPENSE MAGAZINE

"Eskens delivers interesting puzzles, clever problem-solving, and plenty of stay-up-all-night-reading suspense." --REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE

"Grabs the reader and never relinquishes its hold." --LIBRARY JOURNAL EDITOR'S FALL PICK

"A solid and thoughtful tale of a young man used to taking on burdens beyond his years--none more dangerous than championing a bitter old man convicted of a horrific crime." --KIRKUS REVIEWS

"A mesmerizing debut, unfolding decades of secrets in a rewarding tale of redemption." --JULIE KRAMER, Minnesota Book Award winner

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"It's a taut, intelligent,heart-ripping story that explores the darkest places in the human psyche." —William Kent Krueger, author of Iron Lake

Kirkus Reviews

2015-07-16
A freak accident provides a detective the chance to redeem his good name. The speeding car of a thrill-seeking couple jumps a median in late-night Minneapolis and kills a man in another lane. His license identifies him as James Putnam. But Detective Alexander Rupert, who's lately been transferred to the Forgery and Frauds Unit from the scandal-ridden Joint Drug Enforcement Task Force, finds out from an ambulance chaser that the dead man is actually someone else. Alexander eagerly takes on the case of identity theft as a chance to salvage a career that's under federal investigation. When the dead man's sexy live-in girlfriend, Ianna Markova, lets Alexander see his hard drive, the detective finds records of a tidy fortune and 10 annual deposits of $10,000 each. Alexander's big brother, Max, a homicide detective to whom he's close, pulls strings to get him sent to New York to track down Putnam's real identity. With the help of a feisty detective who might be a good match for the widowed Max, Alexander discovers that in 2001, the imposter, Jericho Pope, was supposedly killed in a boating accident. Instead, he swam to shore, went into hiding, took his roommate Putnam's identity, and started blackmailing the men who tried to kill him. He put certain incriminating videos on a flash drive Alexander wants so he can break the case and offset his former partner's testimony against him, his looming grand jury appearance, his wife's coolness, and even Max's growing doubts. Meantime, a hired gun without a human heart wants the drive too and is targeting everyone who gets in his way. As the bodies pile up, Alexander makes a desperate move that may be his only way out. Eskens (The Life We Bury, 2014) has upped the pace and the stakes in his second novel but with less success. His instincts are best when he focuses on the floundering Alexander and the brother who acts as his conscience.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171124946
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Series:	Max Rupert and Joe Talbert , #2
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	457,920

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