Gideon's Corpse
Gideon Crew stood at the window of the conference room, looking out over the former Meatpacking District of Manhattan. His gaze followed the tarred roofs of the old buildings, now hip boutiques and trendy restaurants; moved past the new High Line park thick with people; past the rotting piers; and came to rest on the broad expanse of the Hudson River. In the hazy sun of early summer, the river for a change looked like real water, the surface a mass of blue moving upstream with the incoming tide.
The Hudson reminded him of other rivers he had known, and streams and creeks, and his thoughts lingered on one stream in particular, high in the Jemez Mountains. He thought about a deep pool in it and the large cutthroat trout he was sure lurked in its dappled depths.
He couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there, out of New York City, away from that withered gnome named Glinn and his mysterious company, Effective Engineering Solutions.
“I’m going fishing,” he said.
Glinn shifted in his wheelchair and sighed. Gideon turned. The man’s crippled hand appeared from under the blanket that was shrouding his knees. It contained a brown-paper package. “Your payment.”
Gideon hesitated. “You’re paying me? After what I did?”
“The fact is, based on what you’ve told me, our payment structure has changed.” Glinn opened the package, counted out several banded bricks of hundreds, and laid them on the table in the conference room.
“Here is half of the hundred thousand.”
Gideon snatched it up before Glinn could change his mind.
Then, to his surprise, Glinn handed him the other half. “And here’s the rest. Not as payment for services rendered, however. More in the way of, shall we say, an advance.”
Gideon stuffed the money into his jacket pockets. “An advance on what?”
“Before you leave town,” Glinn said, “I thought you might like to drop in on an old friend of yours.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got a date with a cutthroat trout in Chihuahueños Creek.”
“Ah, but I was so hoping you’d have time to see your friend.”
“I don’t have any friends. And if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t be interested in ‘dropping in’ on them right now. As you so kindly pointed out, I’m living on borrowed time.”
“Reed Chalker is his name. I believe you worked with him?”
“We worked in the same Tech Area—that’s not the same as working with him. I haven’t seen the guy around Los Alamos in months.”
“Well, you’re about to see him now. The authorities are hoping you could have a little chat with him.”
“The authorities? A chat? What the hell’s this about?”
“At this moment, Chalker’s got a hostage. Four of them, actually. A family in Queens. Held at gunpoint.”
Gideon laughed. “Chalker? No way. The guy I knew was a typical Los Alamos geek, straight as an arrow, wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
This is an excerpt from GIDEON’S CORPSE by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Copyright © 2012 by Splendide Mendax, Inc. and Lincoln Child. Reprinted by permission of Grande Central Publishing. All rights reserved.
Gideon's Corpse
Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, the bestselling authors of the wildly popular Aloysius Pendergast thrillers, introduced us to an electrifying new hero in Gideon’s Sword. The enigmatic Gideon Crew is a former art thief, scientist and master of disguise, and now, he’s also working as a freelance operative for a covert government agency. It’s a career choice that may be short-lived. Because in Gideon’s Corpse, he’s about to go up against an enemy bent on nothing less than utter annihilation.
A top nuclear scientist has gone mad—taking an innocent family hostage at gunpoint—and Los Alamos colleague Gideon Crew has been called in to talk the man down. It doesn’t work; the standoff ends in an explosion of violence. But that’s not the only bad news. When the authorities discover that the scientist's body is intensely radioactive, and that he had recently embraced Islamic extremism, all hell breaks loose. And now the clock is ticking. With only 10 days to stop an elusive terrorist cell from detonating a nuclear device inside a major American city, it’s up to Gideon to find—and stop—them before they unleash something far worse than mere Armageddon.
Hardcover Book : 368 pages
Publisher: Hachette Book Group Usa ( January 10, 2012 )
Item #: 13-518983
ISBN: 9780446564373
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.83inches
Product Weight: 13.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Another winner! 
December 15, 2012
I have read every book Preston and Child have written and have never been disappointed. There style is fast-moving with a lot of twists and turns to keep you engrossed. I sincerely hope that Gideon Crew does not succumb to his illness. What a great character, although I still miss Pendergast.
Reviewer: Jr
Language 
November 23, 2012
Well written but the language was disgusting. I wonder why more and more authors seem to think we all talk this way.?
Reviewer: Shirley
November 11, 2012
Can hardly wait for the third bool in the series to come out
Reviewer: Irene B
Enjoyed this one
October 30, 2012
This is a good read with twists and turns, but am hoping for a 'recovery' for Gideon. More in this series will be welcomed.
Reviewer: Patricia
Preston & Child do it again
April 10, 2012
Gideon Crew is a younger, more smart assed version of Pendergast. The duo, Preston & Child have done it again. Loved Gideon's Sword and "Corpse" is just as good a read. If you have not read "Sword" yet, read it first as it intro the character. You will not be disappointed. The writing style is fluid and the story line holds the reader's attention. Not so much a whodunnit as a howdoeshedothat!
Reviewer: Sidra
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