The Crime of Julian Wells : A Novel

With The Crime of Julian Wells , Thomas H. Cook, one of America's most acclaimed suspense writers, has written a novel in the grand tradition of the twisty, cerebral thriller. Like Eric Ambler's A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS and Graham Greene's THE THIRD MAN, it is a mystery of identity, or assumed identity, a journey into the maze of a mysterious life. When famed true-crime writer Julian Wells' body if found in a boat drifting on a Montauk pond, the question is not how he died, but why? The death is obviously a suicide. But why would Julian Wells have taken his own life? And was this his only crime? These are the questions that first intrigue and then obsess Philip Anders, Wells' best friend and the chief defender of both his moral and his literary legacies. Anders' increasingly passionate and dangerous quest to answer these questions becomes a journey into a haunted life, one marked by travel, learning, achievement and adventure, a life that should have been celebrated, but whose lonely end points to terrors still unknown. Spanning four decades and traversing three continents, THE CRIME OF JULIAN WELLS is a journey into one man's heart of darkness than ends in a blaze of light. Praise forThe Quest for Anna Klein "A knight errant, a labyrinth of deceit, a sure bestseller." --Kirkus Reviews "Thomas Cook's work is elegant, philosophical, and literary. This book is to be treasured, and is bound to earn him new readers. Grade A" --Cleveland Plain Dealer Praise forMaster of the Delta "Thomas Cook never disappoints. With Master of the Delta he elevates the game once again. Beautifully written and heavily muscled with character and intrigue, this novel is a tour de force. Nobody tells a story better than Cook."Michael Connelly "Enthralling . . . a thrilling, if dangerous, subject for a master storyteller like Cook." New York Times Book Review ϡ쯦랠 From the Edgar Award#8211;winning author of Red Leaves : An "intelligent and elegant" thriller in the grand tradition of Eric Ambler and Graham Greene ( The Wall Street Journal ). When the body of famed true-crime writer Julian Wells is found in a boat drifting on a Montauk pond, the question is not how he died, but why? Philip Anders, Wells's best friend and literary executor, vows to find out what drove the enigmatic author to take his own life. The first clue is a map of Argentina that Wells had been examining on the day he died. Years ago, he and Anders made a fateful trip to Buenos Aires, where their tour guide was a woman named Marisol. Her subsequent disappearance during Argentina's Dirty War haunted the author. Had he discovered some new clue to her fate? Was he planning to return to South America? And what, if anything, does Marisol's disappearance have to do with the curious dedication in Wells's first book: "For Philip, sole witness to my crime"? Anders soon finds himself on a journey into his friend's haunted, secret life. Spanning four decades and traversing three continents, The Crime of Julian Wells is a "spellbinding" tour-de-force from one of America's most acclaimed suspense novelists ( Publishers Weekly ). "[A] striking example of a suspense writer working at the top of his form, and an agreeable diversion for those who enjoy a bit of style with their substance . . . Cook's characterizations are richly balanced and finely nuanced." #8212; Los Angeles Times