From Publishers Weekly
A cold case grows hot again in Gardner's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce Quincy, former FBI profiler turned PI, last seen in The Next Accident. She's a tough, troubled young woman still recovering from the murders of her mother and sister six years earlier. During week nine of the FBI Academy's 16-week training program in Virginia, she discovers the body of a young woman who looks like her late sister. Since the corpse has been dumped on a secured Marine base, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is in charge, but determined Kimberly soon takes a leave of absence so she can team up with Michael "Mac" McCormack, visiting Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, along with her father and his partner, Rainie Connor, to prevent another death. Mac receives taunting mail and cell phone messages ("planet dying... animals weeping... rivers screaming... can't you hear it? Heat kills") that lead him to suspect a serial eco-killer who last struck in Georgia three years earlier, leaving seven dead women and one survivor. Sparks fly between Kimberly and Mac as they rush to rescue the eco-killer's latest victim, Tina Krahn. Gardner offers riveting glimpses of Tina's struggle to survive in an environmentally hazardous locale. With tight plotting, an ear for forensic detail and a dash of romance, this is a truly satisfying sizzler in the tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
It has been a while since a vicious murderer killed Kimberly Quincy's mother and sister and put a gun to Kimberly's own head, but rage and guilt are Kim's constant companions, isolating her even as they toughen her in the struggle to become an FBI agent. After she literally stumbles on the body of a woman who looks very like her dead sister, her tightly controlled emotions spill into a furious search for a serial killer that compromises her career. In concert with an equally dedicated (and attractive) Georgia law enforcement officer, her estranged father (a former FBI profiler), and a handful of forensics specialists, she pursues clues to solve a deadly game, the prize for which is a kidnapped young woman. The forensic detail is great, and Gardner works in some genuinely creepy moments, especially when she zeroes in on the victim struggling against horrific odds. A tighter focus and a trimmed-down cast of characters would have made the reading smoother, but that won't stop Gardner's fans. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
A Main Selection of The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club

A Featured Alternate Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, Mystery Guild, and Doubleday Large Print


From the Hardcover edition.


Review
A Main Selection of The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club

A Featured Alternate Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, Mystery Guild, and Doubleday Large Print


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Each time he struck, he took two victims." "Day after day, he waited for the first body to be discovered - a body containing all the clues the investigators needed to find the second victim, who waited ... prey to a slow but certain death." "The clock ticked - salvation was possible." "The police were never in time." "Years have passed; but for this killer, time has stood still. As a heat wave of epic proportions descends, the game begins again. Two girls have disappeared ..." "and the clock is ticking." "Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy knows the killer's deadline can be met. But she'll have to break some rules to beat an exactingly vicious criminal at a game he's had time to perfect." For the Killing Hour has arrived.

SYNOPSIS

Each time he struck, he took two victims. Day after day, he waited for the first body to be discovered--a body containing all the clues the investigators needed to find the second victim, who waited...prey to a slow but certain death. The clock ticked--salvation was possible.

The police were never in time.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A cold case grows hot again in Gardner's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce Quincy, former FBI profiler turned PI, last seen in The Next Accident. She's a tough, troubled young woman still recovering from the murders of her mother and sister six years earlier. During week nine of the FBI Academy's 16-week training program in Virginia, she discovers the body of a young woman who looks like her late sister. Since the corpse has been dumped on a secured Marine base, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is in charge, but determined Kimberly soon takes a leave of absence so she can team up with Michael "Mac" McCormack, visiting Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, along with her father and his partner, Rainie Connor, to prevent another death. Mac receives taunting mail and cell phone messages ("planet dying... animals weeping... rivers screaming... can't you hear it? Heat kills") that lead him to suspect a serial eco-killer who last struck in Georgia three years earlier, leaving seven dead women and one survivor. Sparks fly between Kimberly and Mac as they rush to rescue the eco-killer's latest victim, Tina Krahn. Gardner offers riveting glimpses of Tina's struggle to survive in an environmentally hazardous locale. With tight plotting, an ear for forensic detail and a dash of romance, this is a truly satisfying sizzler in the tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag. Major ad/promo. (July 15) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy is after a serial killer who always claims two victims, leaving clues with the first corpse that will lead to the second-whose slow, torturous death could be prevented. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews