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For two minutes she was dead.
The assailant was vicious, the attack brutal—and it left her lifeless . . . until her pulse fluttered and she jolted awake. Now, a year later, detective Nan Vining is still questioning her strength, her safety, even her sanity: Can she ever again be the cop—and mother—she was before? And will her attacker someday return to finish the job, before she can track him down herself?
Shaky but determined, Vining rejoins the Pasadena PD, only to confront a murder case that strikes close to home: A slain policewoman has been discovered beneath the Colorado Street Bridge, her body bruised, her throat slit. Even as Vining struggles to recover her standing within the department, she can't help but feel profoundly drawn to the murdered officer, Frankie Lynde—and she is deeply troubled by the baffling otherworldly visions that haunt her waking hours. Are these mere fever dreams? Or could they be, as Vining's daughter insists, messages from beyond the grave?
Digging deeper into Lynde's past, Vining discovers clues that set her on the twisted trail of a killer as ruthless as he is depraved—a predator whose methods and madness recall those of her own attacker. Amid a rising tide of danger, she pushes herself to bold new limits, desperate to avenge the murder of a fellow police officer . . . and to reclaim the life she lost a year ago.
Packed with suspense and action, this pulse-pounding novel will hold you breathless from the first cut to the last.
Praise for The First Cut
"The First Cut should immediately establish Dianne Emley in the front ranks of thriller writers. . . . A great read."—Michael Connelly
"Gritty, intense, and hard-edged, The First Cut is first-rate."—Tess Gerritsen
"Action-packed, with plenty of suspense and enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing long into the night."—Lisa Jackson
"An edge-of-your-seat plot . . . nicely developed characters and genuine suspense elevate this impressive crime debut."—Kirkus Reviews
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
August 29, 2006 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780345495297
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780345495297
- File size: 893 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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July 10, 2006
A year after surviving a brutal attack, Pasadena, Calif., police officer Nan Vining returns to duty in Emley's sizzling debut, a hard-edged police procedural with a psychic twist. Nan, a 34-year-old single mom who still bears emotional and skin-deep scars, has her mettle tested by her first case back. The gory corpse of young, blonde LAPD vice cop Frankie Lynde, who got "too close to her work," murmurs a cryptic message to Nan at the crime scene. Nan's ability to hear the dead may be connected to her near-death experience or may be a symptom of post-traumatic stress, but it does help crack Frankie's case and eerily provides a clue about Nan's unknown attacker, whom she and her 14-year-old daughter, Emily, dubbed T.B. Mann or "The Bad Man." Readers will cheer as the fast-paced, high-stakes investigation empowers Nan to triumph over a repugnant criminal and her fears. -
September 1, 2006
This gripping debut page-turner examines the shadier side of humanity while providing readers with a first-rate story. However, it is not for those with delicate sensibilities. Detective Nan Vining returns to her desk at the Pasadena Police Department, one year after having barely survived a brutal attack. She is assigned to investigate the vicious rape-murder of LAPD vice cop Frankie Lynde, who worked as an undercover prostitute. Lacking substantial clues, the police turn to the public for help. While they encounter numerous dead ends, Vining, who has experienced visions since the attack, follows otherworldly clues and her keen sense of insight to find the path of a brutal psychopath. Emley introduces two plotlines here, only one of which is satisfactorily concluded. Though Emley states that she will resolve the identity of Nan's attacker in further books, the reader is nonetheless left disappointed. Despite this flaw, the title is recommended for all suspense collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/15/06.]." -Nanci Milone Hill, Nevins Memorial Lib., Metheun, MA"Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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