The Watcher - Brian Freeman

A stunning, clever and unputdownable Minnesota-based thriller.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride has never forgotten the case that made him decide to join the police force. Back in the 1970s, Laura - sister of Stride's girlfriend - was murdered. The obvious suspect was a vagrant, who slipped through the hands of the police, including Stride's detective hero Roy. Now, though, Stride's looking at the case in a new light. Tish Verdure, an old friend of Laura's, has come home, and she's certain that the killer was a local boy, now an attorney with connections at the highest level. Stride's soon convinced that there was a deliberate decision to direct the investigation towards a simple solution and away from Tish's suggested perpetrator, but he's also sure that Tish is hiding a secret about the past. A secret that could have shattering consequences - including a second murder...

Brian Freeman is the author of several acclaimed psychological suspense thrillers. His novels have been sold in forty-six countries and twenty languages. His debut, IMMORAL, won the Macavity Award and was a finalist for the Edgar and Dagger Awards for best first novel.

His novel SPILLED BLOOD won the International Thriller Writers' Best Hardcover Novel Award.

Brian and his wife Marcia live in Minnesota.

'Edgar-finalist Freeman's fourth thriller to feature Duluth, Minn., police lieutenant Jonathan Stride (after Stalked) may be his most ambitious--and accomplished--work to date. As the title suggests, even those involved in the closest relationships can be kept in the dark about a loved one's past. When a woman shows up in town and informs Stride that she's writing a book about the 30-year-old mystery surrounding the murder of the older sister of the girl who grew up to become Stride's spouse, he's forced to re-examine the validity of his bond with not only his late wife, Cindy, who died of cancer five years earlier, but also that involving his current love interest, a former Vegas cop turned PI, Serena Dial. Powered by darkly poetic atmospherics and deep character development (especially Stride, whose understated intensity, dignity and resilience are emblematic of the Twin Ports area itself), this harrowing and heartrending novel will leave readers guessing until the very last pages.'

'His most ambitious - and accomplished - work to date'

'Powered by darkly poetic atmopherics and deep character development (especially Stride, whose understated intensity, dignity and resilience are emblematic of the Twin Ports area itself), this harrowing and heartrending novel will leave readers guessing until the very last pages'

'...gripping, with the right balance of all those things that make a successful thriller - strong characters, believable plot and plenty of tension'

'The writer finishes each chapter with a dramatic sentence that compels you to turn the next page to the final gripping conclusion'

'With not one but two breathtaking climaxes, Freeman delivers a tale of intrigue and anguish. Lyrical descriptions of Minnesota's wild weather add another element to a mesmerizing mix'

'An author returns to her home town to write a book about a 30-year-old unsolved murder and stumbles into more than she'd bargained for. The result is gripping, with the right balance of all those things that make a successful thriller - strong characters, believable plot and plenty of tension'

'Clever and classy'

'This is a real page turner, with believable characters and some nice twists and changes of pace'