Exit Strategy

Starred review from March 5, 2018
Brilliant scientist and biotech startup founder Jordan Parrish, the hero of songwriter and producer Pettus’s terrific first novel, is in despair. His marriage to Stephanie, his Harvard professor wife, is falling apart after the recent death of their baby, and his company is failing. Jordan decides it’s in the best interest of Stephanie and his two surviving children to call on Exit Strategy, a service that helps wealthy people in trouble disappear. When he steps out of his Boston office, he’s immediately spirited away to a new life under a different name. Jordan comes to regret his choice to separate permanently from his loved ones, and, with a single “like” of Stephanie’s Instagram photo, sets in motion a cascade of events that he can barely control. By violating Exit Strategy’s no-contact rule, he puts his own life at risk, as well as those of his wife and kids. Jordan is no trained assassin like Bourne or Bond, but he does push his body and mind to the limit in his attempt to return to his family. Cerebral and visceral, this is a top-notch thriller. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Management.

April 1, 2018
Jordan Parrish thought that his bad decisions had ruined his bioresearch company and would bankrupt his family. It turns out, though, that the real bad decision was in phoning Exit Strategy, a company that promised to make all of Jordan's problems disappear. Next thing you know, Jordan's wife, Stephanie, is told that her husband and a fictitious mistress died in a car crash. Meanwhile, Jordan is undergoing plastic surgery to make himself unrecognizable. Jordan is warned not to try to reclaim his former identity or contact anyone from his old life. But one small mistake shows him just how far the company will go to maintain the illusion of his death. No longer trusting the motives of the company or the circumstances leading to that fateful call, Parrish plots his escape from anonymity, which jump-starts a continent-hopping game of cat and mouse. This fast-paced debut thriller will appeal to fans of Christopher Reich and Harlan Coben. An L.A. songwriter and music producer, Pettus has been a member of the band Tears for Fears since 2000.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from April 15, 2018

Singer/songwriter Pettus (Tears for Fears), debuts with an original and fast-paced technothriller about a secretive organization that helps the desperate, damaged, and despondent literally get a new life. Jordan Parrish led his Cambridge-based biotech firm Genometry into financial ruin. His marriage to Stephanie, a longstanding member of Harvard's physics department, had fallen apart after she learned of his affair. Rather than overdose on Seconal, Jordan follows his counselor's urgings and contacts Exit Strategy, which arranges his "demise" under the guise of a car accident. But now he wants to return to his old life after realizing that his friend and business partner might have provoked the circumstances in which he imploded. Unfortunately, if Jordan tries to connect with anyone from his former life, both he and his contact will be killed. Nevertheless, he attempts to return. VERDICT This impressively intricate and well-crafted debut builds to a stunning climax, creatively incorporating surreal images and settings into the spellbinding narrative. [See Prepub Alert, 11/21/17.]--Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA

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