The Gin Palace Trilogy 03 - The Gin Palace ( Revised April 2013)Declan "Mac" MacManus, some-time PI turned full-time Southampton cabbie, has had to endure much in his young life: the loss of family and friends, grave bodily injuries at the hands of ruthless enemies, and the knowledge that more than a few lives have been shattered by the decisions fate has forced him to make. But nothing of what Mac has encountered - and nothing of what he now knows about his own mysterious past - can compare to what awaits him in the heart-pounding final installment of The Gin Palace Trilogy. On a cold winter night, a troubled woman enters Mac's cab and within moments sets into motion a series of devastating events that will test the young MacManus to his very soul. As he chases down leads, and his losses once again begin to mount, Mac finds himself dangerously close to a line he swore he'd never cross. And when one utterly unbearable loss threatens to transform him into an avenging angel, it is an unlikely ally - a stranger stalking him like a shadow - that may very well be the difference between Mac's final act of self-destruction or his ultimate salvation.

From Daniel Judson, Shamus Award winner and emerging master of the modern literary thriller, comes a riveting and accomplished crime novel set in the seedy underside of a celebrated beach town.During a bone-chilling snap of record cold, a series of enigmatic drowning deaths plays out in a small Hamptons community on Long Island's Shinnecock Bay. Local college professor Deacon Kane, himself recovering from the accidental drowning of his only son years ago---recovering slowly, with the help of alcohol and an addictive, messy affair with a married woman---is implicated in the deaths.As the police and several other interested parties watch his every move, Kane befriends a hypnotically alluring bartender named Colette and quickly continues his brutal downward spiral with little regard for self-preservation. How---and whether---Kane is connected to the young men is the question everyone wants the answer to. As it becomes clear that Kane himself may not know the...

Shamus Award winner Daniel Judson returns with a gripping, family-driven epic that Alison Gaylin, International Bestselling Author of And She Was, *calls "An action-packed, smart and richly layered thriller." *Wanted for a crime he did not commit, former paratrooper Johnny Coyle is living in hiding with a woman he has sworn to protect at all costs. But when his younger brother Jeremy begins looking into the death of the father he barely knew—a legendary undercover FBI agent murdered by a Russian hit squad two years before—Johnny will risk everything to save what is left of his estranged family from a cunning and twisted killer-for-hire bent on vengeance. Episode ListThis book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Learn more about Kindle SerialsReview“Daniel Judson is a master at building tension and suspense. Not only did The Betrayer keep me guessing, I was totally blown away by its electrifying ending--I never saw it coming. Watch out Michael Connelly, there’s a new sheriff in town! “ --Andrew Peterson, author of Forced to KillAbout the AuthorDaniel Judson, Shamus Award winner and four-time finalist, is the author of seven acclaimed novels: The Darkest Place, The Water’s Edge, The Violet Hour, Voyeur, and The Gin Palace Trilogy, comprised of The Poisoned Rose, The Bone Orchard, and The Gin Palace.Though he began submitting novels to publishers when he was nineteen, Daniel remained unpublished for nearly twenty years. A brief study of playwriting and acting in college resulted early on in a research method that is decidedly character-driven and occasionally borders on obsession. “If I’m writing about a boxer, I’ll learn to box and do a boxer’s workout every afternoon. If I’m writing about a man who’s living in hiding, I’ll slip off the grid as best as I can for a time. I’ll even go as far as to wear what my characters wear or carry in my pockets what they carry in theirs. It’s also important for me to walk the streets they walk, see and hear the things they might see and hear.” This attention to detail has resulted in an acquisition of a wide variety of skills, from Vipassana meditation to Filipino knife-fighting to playing jazz trumpet to quick-drawing and shooting “triple taps” in three seconds. His research for The Betrayer included reading WWII war memoirs (particularly those written by paratroopers) and practicing urban evasion techniques in New York City. Daniel currently lives in Connecticut with his fiancée and their four rescued cats. He works nights as a bartender and spends his spare time enhancing his current skills and pursuing new ones.

Former covert ops agent Tom Sexton is living quietly in rural Vermont. Running a diner with his girlfriend, Stella, he thinks that the worst he’s seen, done, and suffered is finally behind him. But when a long-hidden specter from his troubled past emerges, Tom is shaken out of his safe, furtive life. With no choice but to lock and load, Tom falls back into a world where valor and violence collide…and his isn’t the only life in danger. Summoned into the ranks of top-secret intelligence, Tom is tasked with protecting a teenage girl targeted by agents of an infamous mercenary. It’s a high-risk mission that will pit all his combat and espionage skills against ruthless paramilitary hit squads. Leading them is a legendary and mysterious killer for hire who’s making Tom doubt everything, and everyone, he has come to believe in. Even himself. Surrounded by enemies he can’t see and allies he can no longer trust, Tom will have to face alone the fatal fury of a madman—if only to save the woman he left behind. Advertising Show More

To a corrupt chief of police intent on maintaining his power at all costs, part-time PI Declan “Mac” MacManus is a problem that must finally be addressed. Cursed with an unwavering sense of right and wrong, and a fierce loyalty to his few friends, Mac has become known as someone the working class of Southampton can turn to in times of desperate need. On a rain-swept night in October, Mac witnesses a brutal homicide, but he has learned that nothing on the East End is ever what it seems. Determined to hunt down an elusive hired killer before he can strike again, Mac is reunited with what is left of a prominent family he once knew well. But something more—something darker than Mac could have possibly foreseen—is at play here, and as a long-hidden secret threatens to emerge, Mac once again becomes the only hope for justice in a town that all too clearly belongs to the rich and powerful. The Poisoned Rose was a stunning and wondrous debut, and The Bone Orchard only confirmed Daniel Judson’s artistry and unique style, but those two dark gems do not prepare the reader for the huge leap forward that is The Gin Palace. The final outing of Declan “Mac” MacManus, one of our most compelling PIs, shows an author at the very height of his dizzying power. Fresh, vibrant, startling, and beautifully rendered, Judson’s The Gin Palace Trilogy breathes a whole new energy into the genre. -- Ken Bruen, Author of Headstone Award: Shamus Award Winner, 2002 Reviews: “This taut thriller is far from predicable, and its dark and mysterious plot suits Judson’s understated writing style" --Publishers Weekly “Daniel Judson is so much more than a crime-fiction novelist. He's a tattooed poet, a mad philosopher of the Apocalypse fascinated with exploring the darkest places in people's souls.” --Chicago Tribune “Daniel Judson is a thoroughly accomplished writer.” --Kirkus ReviewsFrom Publishers WeeklyJudson's The Bone Orchard introduced narrator and reluctant part-time PI Declan "Mac" MacManus, a disheveled 30-something living from paycheck to paycheck in an above-bar apartment in a trendy Hamptons town. In this somber sequel of sorts, Mac gets caught in the middle of a brutal homicide, which leads to double-dealing, multiple murders and an unusual missing-persons case. At the center of the action is a prominent local family Mac once knew well. As the lines between past and present blur, Mac has to choose between saving a childhood friend and saving himself. Although Judson's cinematic prose and realistic dialogue create lush, vivid scenes, many of the events that take place here mirror those in his previous book. For example, Judson again portrays Mac and Augie, a former DEA agent and friend, as hostile strangers in the book's opening pages, and Augie's hot-for-Mac teenage daughter moves in with Mac after her father goes into hiding-a scenario played out in Judson's debut. Still, this taut thriller is far from predictable, and its dark and mysterious plot suits Judson's understated writing style.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. ReviewThe Poisoned Rose was a stunning and wondrous debut, and The Bone Orchard only confirmed Daniel Judson’s artistry and unique style, but those two dark gems do not prepare the reader for the huge leap forward that is The Gin Palace. The final outing of Declan “Mac” MacManus, one of our most compelling PIs, shows an author at the very height of his dizzying power. Fresh, vibrant, startling, and beautifully rendered, Judson’s The Gin Palace Trilogy breathes a whole new energy into the genre. -- Ken Bruen, author of Headstone Award: Shamus Award Winner, 2002 Reviews:“This taut thriller is far from predicable, and its dark and mysterious plot suits Judson’s understated writing style”—Publisher’s Weekly “Daniel Judson is so much more than a crime-fiction novelist. He's a tattooed poet, a mad philosopher of the Apocalypse fascinated with exploring the darkest places in people's souls.”--Chicago Tribune “Daniel Judson is a thoroughly accomplished writer.”--Kirkus Reviews  

The only surviving son of a small-time career criminal, Cal Rakowski is a young man intent on living an uneventful life. A natural problem-solver, he earns good money as an off-the-books auto mechanic, working side-by-side with his friend Lebell in a Bridgehampton garage owned by a wealthy businessman named Eric Carver. But Cal’s idyllic existence is turned upside down when dark forces target the pregnant friend he is sheltering. And when his two closest friends are revealed to be more than what they claim, Cal’s innate survival skills are put to the test. Forced to do battle with a sudden onslaught of enemies that include a brutal thug, an abusive and powerful ex-husband, and a well-funded female assassin seeking her own personal redemption, Cal’s only hope is the darkness that has always dwelled within him—a darkness he must now unleash if he is to save the one life he has sworn to protect. Set over the course of three days—Mischief Night, Halloween, and the Day of the Dead—The Violet Hour is a powerful and unrelenting thriller in the tradition of such classics as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Marathon Man. **From Publishers Weekly Shamus-winner Judson (The Water's Edge) once again successfully mines Long Island's south fork for glittering noir nuggets. Auto mechanic Caleb Rakowski, the lone survivor of a criminal family, lives on the fringes of respectability in a two-room apartment above the garage owned by his wealthy boss, Eric Carver. Staying out of trouble isn't possible when you're sheltering the pregnant wife of Ronnie Pamona, vengeful former NFL player. Nor is it possible when your occasional assistant, Lebell, is being sought by killers who think you're the best connection to him they've got. The action plays out over a mere three days—Mischief Night, Halloween, Day of the Dead—as the inexperienced Cal tries to protect a growing number of people against crooked cops, trained assassins and other bad guys. Readers will want to see more of the flawed but appealing Cal, with his inbred distrust of authority and outsized sense of loyalty. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Praise for Daniel Judson “[Judson] mines Long Island’ South Fork for glittering noir nuggets.” --Publishers Weekly on *The Violet Hour “In the cutthroat game of Survivalist Poker, Cal can wheel and deal with the worst of them.” --Kirkus Reviews on The Violet Hour “Daniel Judson is so much more than a crime-fiction novelist. He’s a tattooed poet, a mad philosopher of the Apocalypse fascinated with exploring the darkest places in people’s souls.” --Chicago Tribune on The Water’s Edge “Action packed. . . . It’s noir on ice.” --USA Today on The Darkest Place*

When Jake "Payday" Bechet hears that two men have been murdered a few miles from where he lives in the Hamptons---hanged from the Shinnecock Bridge, their hands severed---he knows that trouble is coming. Trouble for him, for everyone, because it means that someone has betrayed the Castello crime family. Whether it's someone trying to move in on their drug operation or the cops making their own statement, he doesn't know, but he wants to stay far away from it all. After all, years ago Bechet himself walked away from the Castellos with enough inside information to hold over their heads and to keep himself safe, then went underground. He doesn't want to get anywhere near them now but soon discovers that he can't remain indifferent---first it seems one of his friends has gotten involved in the fringes of this battle, and then the larger picture becomes clear: Jorge Castello himself wants Bechet to find out who's behind the killings, claiming there's a traitor in the...