Bonus Content
Excerpt
Chapter 1
KIM MCDANIELS WAS BAREFOOT and wearing a blue-and-white-striped Juicy Couture minidress when she was awakened by a thump against her hip, a bruising thump. She opened her eyes in the blackness, as questions broke the surface of her mind.
Where was she? What the hell was going on?
She wrestled with the blanket draped over her head, finally got her face free, realized a couple of new things. Her hands and feet were bound. And she was in some kind of cramped compartment.
Another thump jolted her, and Kim yelled this time, "Hey!"
Her shout went nowhere, muffled by the confined space, the vibration of an engine. She realized she was inside the trunk of a car. But that made no freaking sense! She told her self to wake up!
But she was awake, feeling the bumps for real, and so she fought, twisting her wrists against a knotted nylon rope that didn't give. She rolled onto her back, tucking her knees to her chest, then bam! She kicked up at the lid of the trunk, not budging it a fraction of an inch.
She did it again, again, again, and now pain was shooting from her soles to her hips, but she was still locked up, and now she was hurting. Panic seized her and shook her hard.
She was caught. She was trapped. She didn't know how this had happened or why, but she wasn't dead and she wasn't injured. She would get away.
Using her bound hands as a claw, Kim felt around for a toolbox, a jack or a crowbar, but she found nothing, and the air was getting thin and foul as she panted alone in the dark.
Why was she here?
Kim searched for her last memory, but her mind was sluggish, as if a blanket had been thrown over her brain, too. She could only guess that she'd been drugged. Someone had slipped her a roofie, but who? When?
"Helllllllpppp! Let me out!" she yelled, kicking out at the trunk lid, banging her head against a hard metal ridge. Her eyes were filling with tears and she was getting mad now on top of being scared out of her mind.
Through her tears, Kim felt a five-inch-long bar just above her. It had to be the interior trunk release lever, and she whispered, "Thank you, God."
Chapter 2
KIM'S CLAW-HANDS TREMBLED as she reached up, hooked her fingertips over the lever, and pulled down. The bar moved - too easily - and it didn't pop the lid.
She tried again, pulling repeatedly, frantically working against her certain knowledge that the release bar had been disabled, that the cable had been cut - when Kim felt the car wheels leave the asphalt. The ride smoothed out, and that made her think the car might be rolling over sand.
Was it going into the ocean?
Was she going to drown in this trunk?
She screamed again, a loud, wordless shriek of terror that turned into a gibbering prayer, Dear God, let me out of this alive, and I promise you - and when her scream ran out, she heard music coming from behind her head. It was a female vocalist, something bluesy, a song she didn't know.
-From the book, Swimsuit.
Swimsuit
James Patterson lives up to his blockbuster-selling reputation as “America’s #1 storyteller” (Forbes) as he plunges into a heart-pounding new story of fear and desire in, of all places, paradise. How could anything bad happen in Hawaii, wonders L.A. Times reporter Ben Hawkins when he arrives in the tropical Eden on earth, hot on the trail of a story that promises to be huge. It seems Syd, the breathtakingly gorgeous supermodel, was on a photo shoot here when she suddely vanished. Her grief-stricken parents, who are trying to investigate the inexplicable disappearance on their own, can’t give Ben more to go on than what he already has—zilch. But, as he’s counting on the case to give him the basis for his next bestseller, Ben digs in and digs on, getting nowhere fast. Frustrated by clues and leads that don’t pan out, Ben realizes he’s no closer to uncovering the kidnapper's identity than when he first stepped off the plane—until he gets a shocking visit that pushes him into an impossible-to-resist deal with the devil. Impossible to put down, Swimsuit enters chilling new territory where the collision of beauty and murder transforms paradise into a hell of unspeakable horrors.
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Hachette Book Group Usa ( June 29, 2009 )
Item #: 38-7237
ISBN: 9780316018777
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.99 inches
Product Weight: 16.0 ounces
Not a terrible read
November 19, 2009
Very graphic, but still quite readable. because of subject and the terrible nature of it, it is hard to say it was a great book.
Reviewer: Ms M
YUCKY Good
November 19, 2009
This book was Yuck, but as with most all Paterson books, it is a quick read. I did like it, but the subject and the horror, as real as it may be in this sometimes horrid world, was quite vivid. Which says they did a good job,
But NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART! I did like the style of writing, at times made me wonder if it was a true story, if Ben Hawkins is a real person.
Reviewer: Toni
Opinion
November 09, 2009
I have read every James Patterson book I can get my hands on...I don't know if it's just me or if writing with these "other" authors is the problem. This book is soooo gruesome and violent. As well as some of the language is just downright nasty. I can usually overlook some of this, but this is definitely "over the top:
---My advice---Patterson needs to write his OWN Stories (SOLO)! The Women's Murder Club and Alex Cross novels are by far his best works! If something doesn't change...I think he may lose a few readers who are really loyal to him!
Reviewer: Denise
Disappointed
November 08, 2009
I am a big James Patterson fan. I was hugely disappointed by this one. I love mystery and suspense but this was a bit overboard. Way to gruesome and drawn out for my taste.
Reviewer: Lisa
Different
November 07, 2009
It took me some time to get into the book, it wasn't like Patterson's usual stories. I don't think the material in this book was any more graphic than some of his other works. I have to say I enjoy most of Patterson's books and look forward to more.
Reviewer: Lori
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