Kill the Messenger

By Tami Hoag

Book Overview

With this new thriller, The New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers her own message to suspense fans everywhere: Don't turn off the lights, and keep reading if you dare. From the gritty streets of Los Angeles to its most protected enclaves of prestige and power to the ruthless glamour of Hollywood, a killer stalks his prey. A killer so merciless no one in his way is safe--not even the innocent. At the end of a long day battling street traffic, bike messenger Jace Damon has one last drop to make. But en route to delivering a package for one of L.A.'s sleaziest defense attorneys, he's nearly run down by a car, chased through back alleys, and shot at. Only the instincts acquired while growing up on the streets of L.A. allow him to escape with his life--and with the package someone wants badly enough to kill for. Jace returns to Lenny Lowell's office only to find the cops there, the lawyer dead, and Jace himself considered the prime suspect in the savage murder. Suddenly he's on the run from both the cops and a killer, and the key to saving himself and his ten-year-old brother is the envelope he still has--which holds a message no one wants delivered: the truth. In a city fueled by money, celebrity, and sensationalism, the murder of a bottom-feeding mouthpiece like Lenny Lowell won't make the headlines. So when detectives from the LAPD's elite robbery/homicide division show up, homicide detective Kev Parker wants to know why. Parker is on the downhill slide of a once-promising career, and he doesn't want to be reminded that he used to be one of the hotshots, working cases that made instant celebrities of everyone involved. Like the case of fading retty-boy actor Rob Cole, accused of the brutal murder of his wife, Tricia Crowne-Cole, daughter of one of the most powerful men in the city, L.A.'s latest "crime of the century." Robbery/Homicide has no reason to be looking at a dead small-time scumbag lawyer or chasing a bike messenger...unless there's something in it for them. Maybe Lenny Lowell had a connection to something big enough to be killed for. Parker begins a search for answers that will lead him to a killer--or the end of his career. Because if there's one lesson he's learned over the years, it's that in a town built on fantasy and fame, delivering the truth can be deadly.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553583581
• ISBN13: 9780553583588
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.3" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Awesome thriller.

Anyone who like Tami Hoag will love this book, edge of your seat suspense. Thought Jace was never gonna get his life back.

Kill the Messenger was definitely one of my favorites!.

My first try with Tami Hoag, I can honestly say, she has acquired a new fan. The read was easy, definitely held my attention from first page through to the last page. Easy to fall in love with the characters. I truly enjoyed this book, thank you.

Hoag does it again

This is one of the fastest-paced of Hoag's books and is hard to put down.

My first tami hoag book

I loved this book and the characters in it! If this is a sample of tami's books, I will be reading them all!! I really love suspense and this sure had plenty!

A fun and satisfying read

Hoag's style is crisp and direct, providing enough detail to flesh out the scenes and characters but with little fat to get in the way of the plot as it races forward. The book opens with a resourceful, if bedraggled bike messenger who took an end-of-the-day message delivery and came hair close to getting killed (by a person in a big car who we know as Predator) and who also became the prime suspect for the murder of the person who requested the delivery in the first place. After that, you are barrelled through a twisted maze of plots and counter plots and you don't know where you'll end up until you get to the end.Books like this are far better than TV. Have fun with it!

Not her best by far

While I did enjoy "Ransom", I didn't feel that this was one of DS best books. I was happy to see that it wasn't the same old, same old as some of her previous books. I did not, however, like the mystery aspect of the book. I found the middle of the book to be dull and found myself skipping whole paragraphs at times. Mystery/thriller novels are not DS style. I did enjoy Ted and Fernanda's exchanges throughout the book, and Sam was my favorite character.

Danielle Stell Does It Again!

I have been a fan of this writer for a very long time and have enjoyed many of her novels but this one (i think), is my all-time favourite! I started reading it one night and didn't want to put it down...so i didn't, I just continued reading it until it was finished. I know you will love it as much. Give it a try!