The Short Drop

by Matthew FitzSimmons

Overview

A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.

For legendary hacker and marine Gibson Vaughn, the case is personal—Suzanne Lombard had been like a sister to him. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the former head of Benjamin Lombard’s security asks for Gibson’s help in a covert investigation of the case, with new evidence in hand.

Haunted by tragic memories, he jumps at the chance to uncover what happened all those years ago. Using his military and technical prowess, he soon discovers multiple conspiracies surrounding the Lombard family—and he encounters powerful, ruthless political players who will do anything to silence him and his team. With new information surfacing that could threaten Lombard’s bid for the presidency, Gibson must stay one step ahead as he navigates a dangerous web to get to the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781503950252
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Series:	Gibson Vaughn , #1
Pages:	397
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Matthew FitzSimmons was born in Illinois and grew up in London, England. He now lives in Washington, DC, where he taught English literature and theater at a private high school for over a decade. The Short Drop is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

10/05/2015
The disappearance of Suzanne Lombard, the 14-year-old daughter of U.S. senator Benjamin Lombard, propels FitzSimmons’s suspenseful first novel. Ten years later, Suzanne is still missing, but there’s a break in the case. George Abe, the head of a consulting group who once worked for her father (who’s now vice president and running for the presidency), persuades former computer hacker Gibson Vaughn, who was Suzanne’s childhood friend, to look for her. Gibson works with two of Abe’s investigators, an ex-CIA officer and an ex-L.A. police detective, both of whom have serious skills and very little regard for Gibson’s abilities. Tossed into the mix is a professional killer whose employers have hired him to dispose of everyone who’s searching for Suzanne. The plot builds slowly, but it will keep readers turning the pages until the end, even though the denouement may come as little surprise to veteran thriller fans. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Named by Goodreads a Best Book of December 2015

“FitzSimmons has come up with a doozy of a sociopath.” —The Washington Post

“This live-wire debut begins with a promising lead in the long-ago disappearance of the vice president’s daughter, then doubles down with tangled conspiracies, duplicitous politicians, and a disgraced hacker hankering for redemption...Hang on and enjoy the ride.” —People

“Writing with swift efficiency, FitzSimmons shows why the stakes are high, the heroes suitably tarnished, and the bad guys a pleasure to foil.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Beyond exceptional. Matthew FitzSimmons is the real deal.” —Andrew Peterson, author of the bestselling Nathan McBride series

“Unbridled power and relentless revenge converge in the exciting, tightly plotted The Short Drop...The multifaceted Gibson has the makings to support a long series.” —SouthFlorida.com

“The Short Drop is an adrenaline-fueled thriller that has it all—political intrigue, murder, and suspense. Matthew FitzSimmons weaves a clever plot and deftly leads the reader on a rapid ride to an explosive end.” —Robert Dugoni, bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave

From the Publisher

A riveting story needs a narrator who can keep pace, and James Patrick Cronin meets the challenge. Gibson Vaughn becomes embroiled in the search for a close childhood friend. With its details of political espionage and self-serving interests, this is a story with multiple twists that keep the listener guessing. Cronin crafts identities for the heroes and villains, and they’re an eclectic bunch. A colleague who doesn’t care for Gibson is given a deep voice while a matriarch sounds as methodical and cunning as she proves to be. None of the voices of the minor characters receive short shrift, and that’s important because the author develops their backgrounds very well. M.B. 2017 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2017 - AudioFile

2015-09-23
A disgraced computer hacker gets a chance at redemption when the case that turned him to the dark side 10 years ago gets reopened in this sturdy debut thriller. You would have thought that Gibson Vaughn's life had already had drama enough. When he was still in high school, his cyberattack against Sen. Benjamin Lombard nearly sent him to prison and did send him to the Marines. When the documents he'd leaked indicating that Lombard had redirected his campaign funds to a private Cayman Islands account were pronounced forgeries and the financial shenanigans laid at the feet of Gibson's father, Lombard's chief of staff, Duke Vaughn hanged himself. Two years later, Lombard's daughter, Gibson's childhood friend Suzanne, ran away from home and disappeared without a trace despite a $10 million reward offered by her godmother, D.C. kingmaker Calista Dauplaise. Now that he's just lost his IT position and Vice President Lombard is running for the top job, Gibson's approached with another job offer. WR8TH, the faceless buddy who befriended Suzanne in a chat room before she vanished, has resurfaced online, and George Abe, Lombard's ex-security chief, wants Gibson to help locate him. In no time at all, Gibson's insinuated himself into the thick of a power struggle among highly placed political players and their hired guns, a bevy of no-goodniks so ruthless they make the pedophile suspects Abe and Gibson end up tracking look like so many innocents caught in the Web. Writing with swift efficiency, FitzSimmons shows why the stakes are high, the heroes suitably tarnished, and the bad guys a pleasure to foil—even though, with so many sharpies playing so many angles, it's hard to care when, or even whether, any single fish takes the bait.

Kirkus Reviews