Envy.2001

Maris Matherly-Reed is one of New York's most respected editors working for her father's firm Matherly Press. Matherly Press is very much a family concern: her father owns the company, her husband is President and publisher. Maris herself is an Executive Vice-President but she still enjoys the thrill of finding and nurturing new talent. Envy, the story of a destructive jealous rivalry and revenge between two friends that leads to murder, is one of the most exciting finds that Maris has come across in recent years. Intrigued enough by the opening chapter to offer a contract she finds herself longing to meet the mysterious PME. Parker Evans is not what she expected at all. Confined to a wheelchair and obsessively protective of his privacy, he is, however, happy to work with his new editor to finish his book. But as Maris confronts the knowledge that her seemingly perfect husband is having an affair, she finds herself falling under Parker's brooding spell. But like most first novels, there is more than a little of Parker's own story in Envy. And his plans extend far beyond literary success... In this explosive New York Times bestselling thriller, a New York City-based book editor travels to a Southern island to meet a mysterious author -- but she's about to uncover a shocking truth about a carefully concealed crime. Maris Matherly-Reed is a renowned New York book editor, the daughter of a publisher and the wife of a bestselling author. It's rare for an unsolicited manuscript to pique her interest, but a new submission with blockbuster potential inspires her to search for the book's elusive author. On an obscure island off the Georgia coast, amidst the ruins of an eerie cotton plantation, Maris finds Parker Evans, a writer determined to conceal his identity as well as his past. Maris is riveted by his tale of two friends who charter a boat with a young woman for a night of revelry . . . an excursion from which only one person returns. Working with Parker chapter by chapter, Maris becomes increasingly convinced that his story is based on real-life events. Disturbed by this realization -- and her growing attraction to Parker -- she searches for clues relating to a crime that was committed long ago. When someone close to Maris suddenly dies, an evil presence looms even closer: a man who will use anything -- and anyone -- to get what he wants . . . Living on a remote island under an assumed name, novelist Parker Evans guards his secrets well. Fascinated by this reclusive genius, publisher Maris Matherly-Reed decides to pursue him. But this new project threatens an old commitment, a commitment at the very center of her life. Envy has all the ingredients of a Sandra Brown beach read bestseller