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The Big Secret [Hardcover]

Pete Earley (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 1, 2004
Federal Chief Investigator Nick LeRue is an expert on unraveling a crime; he's brought down some of the smoothest operators on Capitol Hill and uncovered dangerous secrets in politicians' pasts. In his personal life, however, his commitment to his job has left him unlucky in love. When his ex-girlfriend, investigative journalist Heather Cole, appears after a long period of silence, things start looking up. But Nick is about to learn that nothing is ever what it seems.

Surprisingly, the woman who approaches Nick isn't his ex at all, but her twin sister, Melanie Cole. The two sisters share an unusually strong bond, one that allows them to sense when the other is in danger and even visit one another in their dreams. Melanie has been seeing images of her sister being held captive by an unseen man; somehow she knows that time is running out for Heather.

Though skeptical of the sisters' connection, Nick follows Heather's trail to Pushmataha, Mississippi. It appears that she was close to uncovering the town's darkest and bloodiest secret---the beating and lynching of a young black man in the 1955 when she mysteriously vanished. A photograph of the event reveals that all but two of the mob have already died. One of the survivors is Jeb Rogge, the town's most powerful and dangerous man. But why would Jeb get involved in a crime that would obviously point to him?

The town's residents seem to know something they're not telling Nick, and Melanie's dreams are becoming more and more intense. As more and more of the pieces fly together, it becomes all too clear that whoever has covered up the racial murder is willing to keep it hidden at any cost, even if it means killing again.

Combining an intense paranormal thriller with edge-of-your seat mystery fiction, Pete Earley's The Big Secret will keep you guessing until the unbelievable end.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-winning true crime writer Earley (The Hothouse, etc.) delivers a fast-paced but uneven fiction debut. U.S. Senate investigator Nick LeRue spends most of his time vetting nominees for federal judgeships—that is, until he's contacted by Melanie Cole, who wants him to track down her twin, Heather, a reporter who's vanished from the small Mississippi town where she'd gone to research a 1955 lynching. LeRue agrees, mainly because he still loves Heather, who broke his heart two years ago when she took up with investigative reporter Andrew Middleton. LeRue and Melanie learn that Heather has been kidnapped, possibly by one of the white supremacists involved in the lynching. LeRue's investigative savvy paired with Melanie's ability to communicate in dreams with her twin lead to the discovery that Heather is captive in a remote cabin. But before they can get to her, her captor kills her and then, apparently, himself. But is that the end of the story? The action shifts back to Washington, D.C., where a Southern senator and Middleton—a sort of fictionalized Bob Woodward character—fall under suspicion for Heather's death. Here, Earley's narrative takes a series of credibility-straining turns, including key characters who turn out to be delusional and dream sequences that herald events to come. LeRue, however, remains a well-conceived protagonist, full of honor, cunning and a fine sense of self-deprecating humor.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Chillingly believable . . . The Big Secret is a fast-paced yarn that's all fun . . . as always, Pete Earley's writing is superb and engaging." --Nelson DeMille

"Pete Earley offers up a swift-paced, splendid thriller . . . The Big Secret is a memorable debut ."---Judith Kelman, USA Today bestselling and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Summer of Storms

"John Grisham meets Stephen King in this compelling thriller . . . Earley sure knows how to tell a story. Gripping." --Douglas Preston, co-author of the New York Times bestselling The Relic

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books (June 1, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765307839
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765307835
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,666,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pete Earley is a former Washington Post reporter and a New York Times bestselling author. His book Circumstantial Evidence helped release an unfairly sentenced man and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice and an Edgar(r) Award.

 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Murder Mystery and Suspense, September 2, 2008
By 
This review is from: The Big Secret (Hardcover)
I picked up this book based on a scan of a non-fiction book on Las Vegas written by Earley. That brief glance captivated me so much with its writing that I figured I would not be disapponited with a novel by the same author. I was, for the most part, right.

First, Earley's writing definitely keeps the reader engaged. His characters are believable and the stories and sub-plots ring true. He manages to corral deftly all the different angles, personas and intrigues into a murder mystery that keeps you guessing til the end.

On the downside, Earley could have committed a fatal artistic error by introducing a deus ex machina from the very start: a twin sister who basically gets most of the key clues and answers via dreams from her twin. How convenient, one would think, but Earley manages to fit this potentially over-contrived machination with the rest of the story, not fully allowing it to overcome and denigrate the plot or the mystery. In the end, the Big Secret keeps you wrapped up in the suspense and does the job of entertaining the reader.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Job Pete., April 3, 2006
This review is from: The Big Secret (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed reading this one, and didn't want to put it down. The story is great and really well written. It kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat the entire time I read it. I really reccomend that people read, Operation Grey Wolf "High Value Target". If they liked this book, they'll love Operation Grey Wolf "High Value Target", by C. Ray McManus.
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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous, July 31, 2005
This is a whodunnit. However, every significant clue (in this rather clueless attempt) relies on a psychic relationship between twin sisters. I could handle this okay if I thought I was reading Stephen King, but the author keeps going back to same formula that he used for his first set of clues. It especially starts to stink after one of the twins is dead and continues to speak from the grave.

Now if I wanted to read something about dream walkers, I would pick up Robert Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME. I don't expect the same device to be used in what is pushed off as a political thriller.

Some of the major characters are thinly disguised simulacrums for well known folks. Based on the short bio at the end of the book, one might believe the author has an ax to grind.

I try never to give a book 1 or 2 stars. I really try to find something positive, because it takes alot of work and sweat to churn out a manuscript, but this heap should have never made it by an agent, much less an editor.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I'm watching a man who thinks this is going to be one of the happiest days of his life. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
trophy tree, second kidnapper, lynching photograph, hunting cabin, two kidnappers, five white men
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Andrew Middleton, Jeb Rogge, Heather Cole, Senator Peterman, Lester Alfred, Melanie Cole, Lamar Grant, Sheriff Moorehead, White House, Scarecrow Report, Capitol Hill, Holiday Inn, Jason Simon, King David, Nehemiah Peterman, Washington Tribune, Reverend Carter, New York, Phillip Shurman, Rabbit Creek Park, Union Station, Senate Judiciary Committee, United States, South Dakota, Stanley Alfred
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