Category: Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Charles Coker
Pages: 344
Copyright: Jan 1, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780991437009
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
Maxwell Harmon is a retired government agent living in the jungle of Costa Rica.
His brother has been murdered…his last living kin. The police are dumbfounded. What is he to do?
With anger and a desire for revenge in one hand; skill and resources in the other, Max returns to the United States to do what the police have not been able to do. He is going to show his brother’s killer what it means to ‘walk in Harm’s way’.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
He sat quietly, looking at the woman he’d just killed. Her lips were slightly parted as if she were about to say something but stopped in mid-thought. Her face betrayed nothing. Her eyes were open in a look that might have been seductive except for the glassy look that death inevitably leaves behind.
"Can you hear me, Michelle? How does it feel to die this way?" he whispered. If she answered him, his mind heard nothing. "I didn't want you to suffer but you must have felt something…some sense of surprise or shock…maybe pain. At least your mind’s eye must have seen some brilliant flash of dying light across your synapses.”
He had been watching her for several weeks and ten days ago started running the same jogging path she used. They passed each other every morning, developing the nodding acquaintance of two early-bird health enthusiasts.
This morning, as she did most every morning, she’d been out for her run. Only this morning, he’d been behind her. His measured stride had allowed him to gain on her slowly then he spoke her name in a familiar voice. She slowed, still jogging in place, and turned to face the voice she’d heard. He’d been ready for this and was poised to strike. He didn’t even break stride and his own momentum added to the blow. Her head flew backwards; her feet flying up as if she had run full speed into a clothesline. The back of her head struck the running path with a sound similar to the crunch of walking on peanut shells. The rest of her body simply landed with a dull thump. Her feet twitched once, and then she was completely still.
He knew he was taking a risk in doing so but he sat quietly looking at her longer than he should have.
She lay there in front of him in her green sweat suit and Nike runners. Her deep red hair, tied back in a ponytail, was a beautiful contrast to the suit. He had struck her forehead just below the hairline and almost directly above the bridge of her pointed nose. He’d bought this hammer many years ago but the polished steel head and the old fashioned wooden appeared brand new. He’d never actually used it for anything. He wasn’t very handy around the house…wasn’t good with tools. He hadn't even been sure why he had bought it until now. The hammer was a connection to his past life when he was known as Bobby Matheson.
He looked at her face again. He thought that a blow like that would've resulted in more damage to the face. It had the last time but that was a long time ago. There wasn't much blood at all. The one-inch, rounded side of the hammer had no sharp edges or corners to cut the skin. It had just crushed a roughly circular hole in the skull and had caused a small “x-shaped” split at the base of the indentation. He knew it was likely the massive shock wave that killed her rather than bone fragments. The shock of the impact tore things loose in her head and severed vital connections to the rest of the body.
He continued to sit, feeling the cold of the cement bench through his pants. For some reason, Bobby didn't want to leave her. The sun was just coming up over the tops of trees, beginning to turn green in the spring air. A cool breeze was blowing on his face. The air hadn't taken on the smell of dry dust and heat yet. That would come in another couple of months.
"You’re almost a friend, you know. I learned so much about you, Michelle." He spoke to her softly, knowing somehow she’d hear.
He had needed to know everything about her, which really hadn't been difficult at all. He had gotten to know her and her family very well through a variety of public records and personal inquiries. He had to find out as much about her personal habits as he could so he could choose the proper time and place. He needed to choose her most vulnerable moment. We all have those moments of vulnerability…those moments when we would never expect anything hurtful to come our way. He’d watched her and it had been so easy.
He spoke to her again. "We are so exposed, Michelle. There are so many truly evil people in the world. People's lives are on display for whoever might want to look. Do you know how much personal information about you and your family was free for the asking? The doors of our private lives have no locks, Michelle. No protection to keep us from harm."
She had been relatively young having turned 30 years old only a few weeks ago. She and her husband were ordinary people. They worked Monday through Friday…P.T.A…charity volunteers…church on Sunday. They lived in a two-bedroom brownstone with both a first and second mortgage. They had one son, age four. This would probably hurt the boy most of all, but Bobby knew from his own experience, their boy would get over it. The husband would go on with his life, eventually remarry…but, hopefully, he’d be smarter next time. The bible says “An eye for an eye.” He should have accepted this tenant as truth. If he had, this wouldn't be necessary.
Bobby thought back over the last two years. He had come to realize this would become necessary and had been planning it ever since. He felt a tiny spark of regret for having to do this. Loss of a life always demanded some reverence; some respect to the departed. On the other hand, there are those who deserved to die. The planning was done. The time had come and Michelle was the first.
Dawn had broken through the trees so he felt he should move on before someone inadvertently stumbled upon them. He didn’t want to hurt some innocent person unnecessarily.
"Tell him, Michelle. Tell your husband why."
He rose and tucked a small piece of paper into her left hand, closing her fingers gently around it. He dropped the hammer into a deep pocket inside his jacket and walked across the grass, still wet from the morning dew, and out of the park. He turned a corner and headed to where his car was parked, out of sight of the main park. As he walked, he removed the padded, navy blue windbreaker, which gave him extra bulk in the event he was seen from a distance, rolling it around the hammer. He unlocked the nondescript white Ford and climbed in, throwing the coat and hammer into the back seat to be disposed of later. He peeled off the modest mustache and removed two small rubber appliances from within his upper lip. The change in his appearance was modest but enough. He had learned from experience that the best disguises were the simplest.
He removed the 38-caliber revolver and belt clip holster from under the driver’s seat, hooking it to his sweatpants. He covered it with his tee shirt and started the car. He headed home to shower and change so he could be at the office by 9:30 a.m. Today would be a busy time for him.
On the way home, he thought about where this all began.
Professional Reviews
An intense, gripping novel -- Very highly recommended
A killer stalks the innocent, leaving a note left in the victim's hand that reads, "There are those who deserve to die." The obtuse note leaves investigators baffled, especially when the killer links the second killer to the name of the detective on the first case. But killer's second victim coincidentally is the brother of retired government agent Maxwell Harmon, nicknamed Harm, drawing him out of his peaceful retirement in Costa Rica.
For years Bobby Mathison's father gave the warning they were "walking in harm's way," as he would begin another abusive spree. Following his mother's death, Bobby and his younger sister were left in their father's care even as his alcoholism worsened. When he was fourteen, Bobby kills his sister and then disappears, assuming a new identity. As his story unfolds, Bobby becomes a surprisingly sympathetic character with a dangerous political agenda. But he's walking in harm's way once again when he directly challenges "Harm" in this deadly game.
Charles Coker brings an insider's knowledge to A WALK IN HARM'S WAY, making it a highly detailed, riveting novel. Coker's background as an Intelligence Analyst for the National Security Agency and his current career as a licensed private investigator enriches this novel as he carefully describes the investigation and motivation of this serial killer. While the narrative describes such gruesome details as autopsies and crime scenes, the humane tone, especially of the Coroner, lightens the reading. As the killer's life unfolds in chapters interspersing the killings and investigation, the reader comes to understand how such a demon is created, admiring his survival of horrible circumstances despite his cruel killing spree. An intense, gripping novel, A WALK IN HARM'S WAY comes very highly recommended.
A THRILLER FROM START TO THE END
READERS BEWARE, when you start reading this powerful thriller, you will not be able to put it down. The story keeps you on your toes all along, and the end would be worth reading the whole story, even if the story was not as good as it is.
Charles Coker has the perfect recipe for success, characters are so well defined that you expect them to walk into the room at any moment. He does what a REAL writer is supposed to do: write about WHAT YOU KNOW, and Charles knows so well what he is talking about, be it the places he describes, or the psychology of each of his high impact characters (can't stress that fact too much).
The story line has no flaws, turning the pages is all you have to do... no complicated half plausible developments you have to go back on previous chapters to understand, his style is clear and neat, without losing the impact of the suspense, and the writing is very elegant, the whole experience is like a ride in first class in the famous "Orient Express" train.
This book would make a FANTASTIC MOVIE. Hopefully, a clever director will notice it and bring this oeuvre d'art to life.
Congratulations Mr. Coker, what a brilliant book. When is the next one coming?
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