Pulse

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her crime reporting, Edna Buchanan now occupies a place of honor in the pantheon of American suspense novelists; a master storyteller whose chillingly inventive plots hold a reader spellboound from the opening word. Frank Douglas has everything to live for. But someone else had to die first. If Daniel Alexander had not committed suicide, Miami businessman Frank Douglas would never have lived to see his forty-fifth birthday. Now, with a donated heart beating strong and sure in his chest, Frank has been given a second chance-but no peace. Disturbed by nagging feelings of guilt and uncertainty, he feels an intense need to discover all he can about his mysterious late benefactor-a desire that is drawing Frank and the dead man's beautiful, enigmatic widow across a nation toward shocking revelations about Alexander's affairs...and deep into something corrupt and twisted and deadly. And suddenly the new life Frank Douglas has been granted is in serious peril, threatened by secrets, lies, human savagery and greed...and by the true dark nature of the organ that is now pumping the lifeblood through his body. With the perfect wife, two beautiful daughters and a successful business, Frank Douglas had everything to live for. But someone else had to die first. If Daniel Alexander had not committed suicide, Frank Douglas would never have lived to see his forty-fifth birthday. Alexander's heart now beats strong and sure in Douglas's chest. The donated organ has given the successful Miami businessman a second chance but it gives him no peace. Disturbed by nagging feelings of guilt and uncertainty, Frank sets out to discover all he can about the benefactor whose death gave him life. His search leads him to Rory Alexander--Daniel's beautiful, enigmatic wife-and to troubling questions and shocking revelations about the late man's affairs. Why, for example, have the profits from Alexander's seemingly successful business ventures mysteriously vanished? And why is Rory so unshakably certain that her husband was murdered? A numbers man, Frank Douglas needs to have the figures add up--and that need is drawing him and a seductive, distraught widow across the length of a nation, and deep into something corrupt and twisted and deadly. And suddenly the new life he was granted is in serious peril, threatened by secrets, lies, human savagery and greed. . .and by the true dark nature of the heart that is now pumping the lifeblood through his body. Out of gratitude, a Miami accountant with a transplanted heart contacts the donor's family to see if he can help. On learning the donor may have been murdered, he joins the widow in a search for the killer, an enterprise threatening his marriage and his life