I can’t believe this is a first novel.  It is extremely good, full of great characters, tension and intrigue.  Trying to work out the puzzles and mysteries keeps the pages flying to see if you’re on the right track.  I urge you to read it.

Comparison: Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Lisa Gardner.

Synopsis

It begins with a letter ...The letter contains a request - think of a number, any number - and a sealed envelope. Inside the envelope is that number. When Dave Gurney, retired NYPD homicide detective, is contacted by an old college acquaintance about some startling letters he's been receiving, it is at first little more than a diverting but sinister puzzle. Until the acquaintance is brutally killed. Suddenly Gurney finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation that makes no sense. The killer seems to have known his victim intimately. How else was he able to predict his victim's thoughts, even his actions? How did he know his darkest secrets? The killer is smart and he is playing with the police. Gurney needs to be smarter if he's going to catch him, but this seems only to be the beginning. And the killer alone knows where it will end.

Reviews

'Written with pace, style, intelligence, teasing puzzles and lots of tension.The number I'm thinking of is 1!' Reginald Hill

About the Author

John Verdon has held several executive positions with Manhattan advertising firms but, like his protagonist, recently relocated with his wife to rural upstate New York. Think of a Number is his first novel. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation