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Summary
Summary
Single mother Amy Parkens feels trapped by a boring job, low pay, and no time for her young daughter. But that's before $200,000 in cold, hard cash arrives in an unmarked box. Desperately needing the money, Amy fears a setup or a connection to her mother's suicide 20 years earlier. So she sets out to find the source.
A decent, responsible small-town doctor, Ryan Duffy didn't expect to inherit a fortune from his electrician father, who had millions stashed away in the attic. Did it come from extortion, robbery, or some other terrible crime? Painful as it is, Ryan is drawn to his father's dark past, determined to find the truth.
Desperate for answers, Amy and Ryan soon cross paths on a dangerous quest that takes them through a labyrinth of deception and blackmail - leading them to a man of unfathomable power who holds the key to their fortunes...and their lives.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
For anyone who's ever dreamed of finding a cash windfall, Grippando's (The Abduction) new crime novel offers a cautionary tale of greed, family secrets and the dangers of getting what you wish for. Just before Frank Duffy dies, he tells his physician son, Ryan, that there is $2 million hidden in the attic, and that Frank got the money through blackmailalbeit off someone who "deserved it." The level-headed Ryan considers both claims unbelievableuntil he finds the money. What secrets had his mild-mannered, hard-working father been hiding? Meanwhile, Amy Parkins, while struggling to support her daughter and her grandmother and to put herself through law school, receives $200,000 from an anonymous benefactor, apparently Frank Duffy, whom she'd never met. Why? Could the gift have anything to do with her mother's mysterious suicide 20 years earlier? Troubled by the criminal implications of his father's legacy, Ryan decides he can't touch the cash until he knows where it came from. His questions kick off a wild ride involving lawyers and guns, Panamanian banks, seductive strangers and too much FBI interest for comfort. Amy, too, tries to trace the money, putting her on a collision course with Ryan and his greed-maddened family. As Ryan and Amy search for the money's source and meaning, they uncover a conspiracy involving high-ranking government officials, multi-billion-dollar corporations and a hidden crime committed on a hot summer night years ago. The final revelation is a real kicker, but it would carry even more force if overly tricky plot contrivances hadn't diluted the suspense of what came before. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A worthy idea is undercut by slapdash craftsmanship. The idea: What to do if, like manna, a big bundle of money drops down out of the blue into your lap'two million dollars, in Ryan Duffy's case; two hundred thousand, in Amy Parkens's. The hitch (there has to be one) is that the money Ryan finds in his daddy's attic may be tainted. In fact, his daddy tells him so: It was gotten through blackmail, he confesses, and then breathes his last before he can divulge the details. But, as Ryan learns, there's this safety-deposit box in Panama that promises to be . . . well, interesting. So off he goes, and there discovers that he now has to add another three million to his worrisome treasure chest; also that his father, at age 16, was convicted of rape'though no names are mentioned in the yellowing press clipping. Is that the nasty secret behind the blackmail caper? Regardless, before Ryan leaves Panama, he's victimized by the kind of sneakily orchestrated heist that convinces him other players are involved in this no-rule game. In the meantime, Amy's also bothered and bewildered by her windfall'sent to her anonymously, no explanation. She's the resourceful type, though, and a bit of sleuthing leads her to Ryan'and to the conclusion that the Duffy family and her own must have been connected at some point, in all likelihood dubiously. Having arranged to meet, Amy and Ryan are instantly smitten with each other. (It turns out, thank heaven, that whoever Ryan's dad did rape, it was not Amy's mom, which certainly would have put a crimp in the romance .) Several murders'and one bad beating'later, it becomes clear that Dad Duffy was indeed framed. What's never entirely understood (or plausible) is why his secret was worth five million. Twists for twists, many of them preposterous. But the real problem is, as always, Grippando's (The Abduction, 1998 etc.) people: So few are persuasive.
Booklist Review
If the quality of a thriller can be measured by its ability to confound and then delight its readers, then Grippando's latest is a very good thriller indeed. Like his previous novel, The Abduction [BKL F 15 98], this one sets up a situation--28-year-old Amy Parkens receives $200,000 in the mail from an anonymous donor--and piles up question upon question until readers feel they might go crazy trying to figure everything out. Did the money come from a man who recently died, leaving millions of dollars stashed away? What is the secret buried deep in the man's past, and does it have anything to do with the apparent suicide of Amy's mother 20 years ago? The questions keep coming, long after the halfway point (when most thrillers tend to start providing answers), but all of a sudden, everything clicks, and readers will want to applaud. Number this intelligent, cleverly constructed thriller among the best. --David Pitt
Library Journal Review
Grippando (The Abduction, LJ 3/15/98) has done it again, crafting a thrilling scenario filled with terrifying images of money's dark side. Dr. Ryan Duffy returns home to attend his father's funeral, expecting to console his mother. Instead, his father's dying words, wrought with allusions to blackmail, encourage Ryan to seek out an unexpected pile of cash squirreled away in the attic. Mom is not talking about the millions there, and Ryan's pregnant sister and abusive brother-in-law turn sinister. Meanwhile, single mom Amy Parkens receives an anonymous package from the dying Duffy Senior$200,000 in cash in a crockpot box. Amy traces the money to the Duffys through the crockpot warranty, and this results in an immediate but wary attraction between Amy and Ryan. The pair circle around a decades-old mystery involving their parents and those they considered their most trusted friends and allies. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/98.]Susan A. Zappia, Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.