A drug kingpin on the FBI's Most Wanted list is found hanging upside down over a bathtub, his corpse drained of blood. The killing looks like an organized-crime payback hit--until another Ten Most Wanted criminal is found similarly strung up, and then another. Soon Detective Alex Brandon of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department is grappling not only with a testy partner and a complicated home life, but also with a band of brilliant vigilantes whom the public starts to regard as heroes.

Alex Brandon is almost too good to be true, with his penetrating blue eyes, his steely toughness, his politeness, and his tenacious smarts. But Jan Burke--best known for her well-regarded series featuring reporter Irene Kelly--is such a sane, intelligent writer that Brandon and the book's many other characters come vividly alive. She's also a fine craftsman of individual scenes, many of which are perfectly paced little dramas or comedies. Nine's gripping, multithreaded plot is sometimes too complex for its own good, and the climax tips into melodrama, but overall the reliable Burke, a past winner of the Edgar and other mystery awards, has produced another winning read. --Nicholas H. Allison


From Publishers Weekly
Award-winning mystery author Burke (Flight; Sweet Dreams, Irene) takes a break from her Irene Kelly series to test the waters of stand-alone mainstream thrillers, and proves she can swim with the sharks in this tale of vigilante justice. The members of Project Nine, an exclusive club of deranged boys, create havoc for homicide detective Alex Brandon, the L.A. Sheriff's Department and the FBI, since their gruesome project involves eliminating the outlaws on the FBI's Most Wanted List. Brandon has a dark family history, to say the least, and grimly tolerates his partner, Ciara Morton, a good detective with a bad attitude. The leader of Project Nine, Everett Corey, began assembling his task force including Cameron Burgess, Morgan Addison and the delightfully vain Frederick Whitfield IV at Sedgewick, a rich kids' reform school in Malibu. The team's hero, haunted genius Kit Logan, whose nightmarish past includes the killing of his stepfather, serial killer Jerome Naughton, attended the same school. Ninth on the Project's list of targets is yet another Malibu alum: Kit's friend Gabe Taggert, whose involvement in a botched robbery/ homicide has driven him into hiding. Gabe's sister Meghan has history with both Everett and Kit, further complicating the mix. Brandon was involved with the Naughton case 10 years earlier and has dealt with some of the Sedgewick boys; while this makes him uniquely suited to solving the case, it also puts him at risk. Burke does an excellent job with her diverse, bustling cast which includes Spooky, a 13-year-old firebrand in Kit's care, and Chase, Brandon's troubled nephew providing plenty of background without short-changing the absorbing and inventive plot. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
LAPD homicide detective Alex Hartwick finds himself at odds with the feds when criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted list start dropping like flies in his jurisdiction. From an Edgar Award winner. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
The Orlando Sentinel (FL) Nine is a perfect 10.


Book Description
On the heels of her soaring bestseller Flight, Edgar Award-winning author Jan Burke reaches new heights of suspense in this ingenious novel of hard-hitting justice and cold-blooded murder. Los Angeles County Homicide Detective Alex Brandon lives to bring killers to justice -- but when unknown assailants begin systematically killing off the FBI's Most Wanted suspects, Alex sees no cause for celebration. The vigilante slayings eerily echo the work of a serial killer from a decade ago, and convince Alex that "the Exterminators," as a grateful public has dubbed them, are more ruthless and sadistic than their victims. As the attacks mount, it is the ninth target that pulls Alex into a case that is quickly spiraling into deadly territory -- where justice is no longer enough.


Download Description
"Hailed by reviewers and fellow authors alike, Edgar Award winner Jan Burke has won a legion of devoted readers with her witty, ingeniously crafted novels featuring Irene Kelly. Now Burke, who earned critical acclaim for her stunning departure novel, Flight, returns with another electrifying thriller: Nine will hold readers in thrall until the breathtaking conclusion. When a brutal felon on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list turns up dead in Los Angeles County, few mourn him; in fact, the public begins to cheer his unknown assailants as heroes. But as more brutalized corpses of fugitive outlaws are found, Sheriff's Homicide Detective Alex Brandon knows that the vigilante group the public has nicknamed ""The Exterminators"" may be far more ruthless and sadistic than its victims. The corpses bear eerie similarities to victims of a serial killer investigated by Brandon ten years ago. The perpetrator died at the hands of his own deeply traumatized teenaged stepson, Kit Logan. Logan, protected by his wealthy family, never spent a day in jail; instead, he was sent to a private reform school for the truant sons of L.A.'s most affluent. Alex Brandon, unable to locate Logan for questioning, has a chilling sense he is being manipulated. But why? A terrifying novel that asks what happens when justice is no longer enough, Nine introduces an unforgettable protagonist. A modern morality tale, it is another captivating gem from an acclaimed master of mystery and suspense."


About the Author
Jan Burke is the recipient of the Edgar Award, the Macavity Award, the Agatha Award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Tim, and her two dogs.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In Jan Burke's popular mystery series featuring reporter Irene Kelly and her detective spouse Frank Harriman, the boundaries between good and evil are clearly delineated. Nine explores murkier areas, where some people are bad, some worse, and even the best may be responsible for tragic mistakes in the past.

The novel introduces Los Angeles homicide detective Alex Hartwick, who is investigating the brutal murder of a notorious drug dealer. It soon becomes evident that this is just the first in a series of murders whose victims are all on the FBI's Most Wanted list, and Hartwick is plunged into a complicated case that's somehow connected to Kit Logan, a young man still tormented by horrific abuse at the hands of his serial-killer stepfather years earlier. From Hartwick's search for answers to the vigilantes' pursuit of their next Most Wanted victims, the story unfolds using numerous characters and many different points of view, racing toward unexpected revelations and a terrifyingly imaginative climax.

While Hartwick is Nine's central protagonist, Logan is its most compelling character. We root for the healing of his damaged psyche and observe with interest his relationship with a young female runaway he has taken under his wing, as well as his tentative romance with another woman. The flashbacks to young Kit's abuse are chilling, making his recovery even more remarkable. Like most Burke villains, the vigilante ringleader is truly evil and completely amoral, but all of the other characters in Nine are multidimensional and understandable, despite their atrocities. Suspenseful and original, this is a non-formulaic thriller that weaves a complicated plot and satisfyingly ties everything together in a story of survival, justice, and redemption. Clare Martin

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"When a brutal felon on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list turns up dead in Los Angeles County, few mourn him; in fact, the public begins to cheer his unknown assailants as heroes. But as more brutalized corpses of fugitive outlaws are found, Sheriff's Homicide Detective Alex Brandon knows that the vigilante group the public has nicknamed "The Exterminators" may be far more ruthless and sadistic than its victims." The corpses bear eerie similarities to victims of a serial killer investigated by Brandon ten years ago. The perpetator died at the hands of his own deeply traumatized teenaged stepson, Kit Logan. Logan, protected by his wealthy family, never spent a day in jail; instead, he was sent to a private reform school for the truant sons of L.A.'s most affluent. Alex Brandon, unable to locate Logan for questioning, has a chilling sense he is being manipulated. But why?

FROM THE CRITICS

The Los Angeles Times

A gang of incredibly wealthy ruffians chases after less wealthy knaves to eliminate the FBI's 10 most wanted and a few extras on the side. What the ruffians are doing is illegal, but they're ridding the country of some of its worst criminals without costing taxpayers a dime. If there weren't a lot of self-indulgent sadism about the enterprise, they might deserve the high regard in which fellow Americans come to hold them. — Eugen Weber

Publishers Weekly

Award-winning mystery author Burke (Flight; Sweet Dreams, Irene) takes a break from her Irene Kelly series to test the waters of stand-alone mainstream thrillers, and proves she can swim with the sharks in this tale of vigilante justice. The members of Project Nine, an exclusive club of deranged boys, create havoc for homicide detective Alex Brandon, the L.A. Sheriff's Department and the FBI, since their gruesome project involves eliminating the outlaws on the FBI's Most Wanted List. Brandon has a dark family history, to say the least, and grimly tolerates his partner, Ciara Morton, a good detective with a bad attitude. The leader of Project Nine, Everett Corey, began assembling his task force including Cameron Burgess, Morgan Addison and the delightfully vain Frederick Whitfield IV at Sedgewick, a rich kids' reform school in Malibu. The team's hero, haunted genius Kit Logan, whose nightmarish past includes the killing of his stepfather, serial killer Jerome Naughton, attended the same school. Ninth on the Project's list of targets is yet another Malibu alum: Kit's friend Gabe Taggert, whose involvement in a botched robbery/ homicide has driven him into hiding. Gabe's sister Meghan has history with both Everett and Kit, further complicating the mix. Brandon was involved with the Naughton case 10 years earlier and has dealt with some of the Sedgewick boys; while this makes him uniquely suited to solving the case, it also puts him at risk. Burke does an excellent job with her diverse, bustling cast which includes Spooky, a 13-year-old firebrand in Kit's care, and Chase, Brandon's troubled nephew providing plenty of background without short-changing the absorbing and inventive plot. Agent, Philip G. Spitzer. 13-city author tour. (Nov. 6) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

LAPD homicide detective Alex Hartwick finds himself at odds with the feds when criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted list start dropping like flies in his jurisdiction. From an Edgar Award winner. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews