Black & Blue: BookShots (Detective Harriet Blue Series)
Read Black & Blue: BookShots (Detective Harriet Blue Series) Online
Authors: James Patterson
Tags: #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Crime, #Serial Killers, #Suspense, #Crime Fiction, #Thrillers
Contents
A beautiful young woman is found murdered on a river bank, and Detective Harriet Blue is convinced she’s the next victim of the worst serial killer Sydney has seen in decades.
But the more Harriet learns, the more she realises this murder is not what she first thought. And her own life might be tangled up in the case.
JAMES PATTERSON
is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 300 million copies worldwide and he has been the most borrowed author in UK libraries for the past nine years in a row. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers.
James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, House of Robots, Confessions and Maximum Ride series. James is the proud sponsor of the World Book Day Award and has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.
ALEX CROSS NOVELS
Along Came a Spider
Kiss the Girls
Jack and Jill
Cat and Mouse
Pop Goes the Weasel
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Four Blind Mice
The Big Bad Wolf
London Bridges
Mary, Mary
Cross
Double Cross
Cross Country
Alex Cross’s Trial (
with Richard DiLallo
)
I, Alex Cross
Cross Fire
Kill Alex Cross
Merry Christmas, Alex Cross
Alex Cross, Run
Cross My Heart
Hope to Die
Cross Justice
1
st
to Die
2
nd
Chance (
with Andrew Gross
)
3
rd
Degree (
with Andrew Gross
)
4
th
of July (
with Maxine Paetro
)
The 5
th
Horseman (
with Maxine Paetro
)
The 6
th
Target (
with Maxine Paetro
)
7
th
Heaven (
with Maxine Paetro
)
8
th
Confession (
with Maxine Paetro
)
9
th
Judgement (
with Maxine Paetro
)
10
th
Anniversary (
with Maxine Paetro
)
11
th
Hour (
with Maxine Paetro
)
12
th
of Never (
with Maxine Paetro
)
Unlucky 13 (
with Maxine Paetro
)
14
th
Deadly Sin (
with Maxine Paetro
)
15
th
Affair (
with Maxine Paetro
)
Step on a Crack (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Run for Your Life (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Worst Case (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Tick Tock (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
I, Michael Bennett (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Gone (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Burn (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Alert (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Private (
with Maxine Paetro)
Private London (
with Mark Pearson
)
Private Games (
with Mark Sullivan
)
Private: No. 1 Suspect (
with Maxine Paetro
)
Private Berlin (
with Mark Sullivan
)
Private Down Under (
with Michael White
)
Private L.A. (
with Mark Sullivan
)
Private India (
with Ashwin Sanghi
)
Private Vegas (
with Maxine Paetro
)
Private Sydney (
with Kathryn Fox
)
Private Paris (
with Mark Sullivan
)
NYPD Red (
with Marshall Karp
)
NYPD Red 2 (
with Marshall Karp
)
NYPD Red 3 (
with Marshall Karp
)
NYPD Red 4 (
with Marshall Karp
)
Sail (
with Howard Roughan
)
Swimsuit (
with Maxine Paetro
)
Don’t Blink (
with Howard Roughan
)
Postcard Killers (
with Liza Marklund
)
Toys (
with Neil McMahon
)
Now You See Her (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Kill Me If You Can (
with Marshall Karp
)
Guilty Wives (
with David Ellis
)
Zoo (
with Michael Ledwidge
)
Second Honeymoon (
with Howard Roughan
)
Mistress (
with David Ellis
)
Invisible (
with David Ellis
)
The Thomas Berryman Number
Truth or Die (
with Howard Roughan
)
Murder House (
with David Ellis
)
Torn Apart (
with Hal and Cory Friedman
)
The Murder of King Tut (
with Martin Dugard
)
Sundays at Tiffany’s (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
)
The Christmas Wedding (
with Richard DiLallo
)
First Love (
with Emily Raymond
)
Miracle at Augusta (
with Peter de Jonge
)
What you are holding in your hands right now is no ordinary book, it’s a BookShot.
BookShots are page-turning stories by James Patterson and other writers that can be read in one sitting.
Each and every one is fast-paced, 100% story-driven; a shot of pure entertainment guaranteed to satisfy.
Available as new, compact paperbacks, ebooks and audio, everywhere books are sold.
BookShots – the ultimate form of storytelling. From the ultimate storyteller.
I’M AN EXPERIENCED
hunter of humans. It’s not hard, if you understand how they think. People have tunnel vision and are objective-driven. As long as you don’t interfere with their goal, and don’t make yourself known before you’re ready to pounce, you can close in on a relaxed target pretty easily. It doesn’t even require much stealth. Unlike animals, human beings don’t use their alarm system of senses. Though the wind was behind me, Ben Hammond didn’t smell me. He didn’t hear my breath over the clunk of his boots on the pavement.
Hammond’s objective was his late-model Honda Civic on the edge of the parking lot. So that’s all he could see – he didn’t notice me round the corner from the loading dock and fall into step behind him. He left the shopping centre with hands full of groceries swinging at his sides and headed across the parking lot, already sliding into the driver’s seat in his mind, shutting the door on the moonless night.
I followed with my head down, the hoodie pulled up against the security cameras trained on the few remaining cars. I let him pull his keys out of his pocket, the jangling sound covering the soft fall of my boots for the last few steps between me and my prey.
I closed the distance and attacked.
‘FUCK!’ BEN HAMMOND
grabbed at the back of his head where I’d punched him, turned and stumbled against the car, dropping the bags. Glass cracked in one of them. He cowered in a half-crouch, trying to make himself smaller. Both hands shot up. ‘Oh my God! What are you doing?’
‘Stand up,’ I waved impatiently.
‘Take my wallet,’ he stammered. ‘Don’t hurt m—’
‘You don’t like the surprise attack, do you, Ben? You know how effective it is.’
He realised three things very quickly. First, that I was a woman. Second, that this wasn’t a mugging. Third, that he’d heard my voice before.
The man straightened almost fully and squinted into the darkness of my hood. I tugged the hood down and watched his eyes wander around the silhouette of my short hair against the shopping-centre lights, the terror in his face slowly dissipating.
‘I …’ He straightened. His hands dropped. ‘I know you.’
‘You do.’
‘You’re that cop.’ He pointed an uncertain finger at me, began to shake it as his confidence grew. ‘You’re that cop from the trial.’
‘I am,’ I said. ‘Detective Harriet Blue, here to deliver your punishment.’
IT WAS A
little insulting that my name didn’t come to Ben’s mind as quickly as I’d hoped. But I had just cracked him on the skull. What little grey matter was sloshing around his brain probably needed time to recover. I’d done everything I could to make him aware of me while he was tried for the rape of his ex-girlfriend Molly. When I took to the stand to testify that I’d found Molly at the bottom of the shower where he’d dumped her, I’d looked right at him and calmly and clearly stated my name.
