Aphrodite [Mass Market Paperback]

Russell Andrews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

A man burdened by his past, former top homicide cop Justin Westwood has retreated to a small-town Long Island police force. Drowning his troubles in mindless traffic duty and lots of scotch, he's awakened to action when a young woman journalist is brutally murdered. She had recently made some errors in the obituary of a man from a local retirement home, but that's not the kind of mistake that brings professional hit men to your door-or the FBI to town. Attempting to unravel the puzzle, Justin finds that everyone-the cops, the FBI, and one of the strangest professional killing teams ever seen-seems to be one step ahead of him, disposing of witnesses and setting him up for the fall. But this reality check is just what Justin needs, and he'll stop at nothing to discover the true meaning of "Aphrodite"-and maybe save himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robert Ludlum meets Dashiell Hammett in this gripping, wildly plotted thriller by the author of Gideon and Icarus. In the sleepy town of East End, New York, former homicide cop Justin Westwood is trying to escape the tragedy of his past by consuming scotch and writing traffic tickets for the local police department. The murder of a young reporter (disguised as an accident), however, catapults him out of his stasis and into a complicated investigation. A terrified witness tells of a blond killer, whom readers first met in the book's opening pages murdering another young woman. As Justin investigates, it seems that the police and the FBI are always one step ahead of him, and that folks with any connection to the case start turning up dead. Signs point to a sinister fountain-of-youth project run by a mysterious, all-powerful cabal, which the reporter had accidentally uncovered. If Westwood penetrates the secrets of the Aphrodite program, he's sure to be their next victim. A smalltown cop does battle with a great conspiracy: the plot may sound conventional, even hackneyed, but Andrews sustains white-hot tension throughout, bolstered by enough surprises and body blows to satisfy even a hardened mystery/conspiracy buff. The suspense flags slightly at midpoint, but elsewhere the pace is fast, the dialogue sharp, the characters skillfully drawn and the familiar, heady whodunit action cleverly handled.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* From the author of Gideon (1999) and Icarus (2001) comes another thriller that's propelled as much by its characters as its plot. In a small Long Island town, a newspaper reporter is found dead, apparently murdered. Justin Westwood, a member of the local police force who would much rather keep to the background, reluctantly gets involved in the investigation. His problem: find out how the victim's last story, the obituary of a little-known Hollywood actor, could possible have led to her murder. Soon Justin is up against something much bigger--and much weirder--than he could possibly have imagined. The story is solid, but it's the lead character who elevates the novel above your typical thriller. Justin--the small-town cop in a town without murder, who clearly knows his way around a homicide investigation--keeps us flipping the pages as fast as we can. As we watch him solve the mystery, we're working on a puzzle of our own: Who is Justin, and where did he come from? Top of the line. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Vision (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446614963
• ISBN-13: 978-0446614962
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,899,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting plot, April 6, 2005

By 

Pangloss "soldierblue" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Aphrodite (Mass Market Paperback)

The concept of this book is that the government conspires with big business to provide for the "good of the country". Now we all know that never happens. That aside, this is a pretty good story that starts out great but bogs down about midway through the book. The plot is not inconceivable, but some of the situations the two main characters get into are somewhat implausible. The last half reads more like a action movie screenplay. Still, it is a good read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite Russell Andrews, but still interesting, January 29, 2004

By 

Gary Turner (Powder Springs, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aphrodite (Hardcover)

After having read the first two titles (Gideon/Icarus) by this author (actually Russell Andrews is a pen name) I was delighted to find that Aphrodite had hit the shelves. The first two titles had a mystical feel to the mystery found in the book. This one was more of a main stream tale, and the concepts presented were almost Michael Palmerish.
The story is about a small town policeman, down on his luck, who stumbles onto a murder conspiracy involving the F.B.I., Persian War vets and ethics in medical development. The yarn moves quickly and it will certainly keep the reader's attention, just not to the extent that the previous works did.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and exciting corporate thriller, December 28, 2005

By 

Helen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aphrodite (Audio Cassette)

I listened to this audiobook while riding the bus. If a book is boring or the details confuse me, I generally don't bother to finish it. But in this case, I was able to pick it up each trip and wanted to know about these characters.
One reviewer said why not kill the people who"knew the secret". Uh. They were being used as guinea pigs to test the anti-aging drugs, that's why not....
Thriller-only readers may not like the complications and philosophical asides, but as a literature reader, I found it worthwhile and engrossing.
Also, the main character was sympathetic. I don't read cop novels as a rule, so the material wasn't dated or boring to me.