Close to the Bone [Paperback]

David Wiltse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

FBI Agent John Becker stalks a brilliant icepick-wielding assassin who kills for profit and pleasure, tracking him down to the U.N. Reprint. K. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this prequel to the praised Prayer for the Dead, Wiltse brings back his unusual FBI agent, John Becker, to prevent a deadly act of international terrorism. After a brief and powerful prologue that pits Becker against a vile, psychopathic killer, the main story begins with the introduction of Roger Bahoud, a hired assassin who prefers to murder his victims with a sharp object in the ear. Hired by a rival Islamic group to eliminate Yasser Arafat and pin the crime on the Israelis, Bahoud has slipped into the U.S. and infiltrated a small, ineffectual Zionist group in New York, intending to set them up as fall guys. Becker, a tormented antihero whose primary skill lies in his ability to think and act like the villains he pursues, is put in charge of the FBI effort to stop Bahoud. A series of the terrorist's trademark icepick killings finally leads to a showdown in an apartment he shares with the nominal leader of the Brotherhood of Zion and his crippled, sexually frustrated sister. In the end, Bahoud learns what it is like to be stalked by an enemy as deadly and merciless as he is.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A prequel showing how, before FBI Special Agent John Becker tangled with the psychopathic killer of Prayer for the Dead (1991), he was pitted against a psychopathic political assassin on the loose in New York. The assassin is Roger Bahoud, who's been hired to kill an unnamed statesman during the UN ceremonies on the Year of the Child--and kill him in such a way that an ineffectual fringe group, the Brotherhood of Zion, will be blamed. Bahoud, an abused child who turned on his father and went on to kill half a dozen men by sticking them in the ear with pointed wires, is one scary guy--but then so is Becker, who's good at his job because he feels the same unholy excitement that his murderous prey feel. As Bahoud makes his way from the Mideast to Poland to Canada to New York, a lucky break at the Canadian border crossing--the victim Bahoud had killed for his passport is discovered ahead of schedule--puts Becker on his trail. As Bahoud goes to ground (under the wildly unconvincing alias Meyer Kane) with the unwitting Brotherhood's chicken-hearted leader Howard Goldsmith and his crippled sister Myra--duping Howard and his Keystone terrorists into leading an attack on a dying former PLO intimate and killing the old man after they've spray-painted his mosque with Zionist graffiti--Becker follows the trail of corpses--the playwright client of Myra's who hinted that he worked for the government; the Brotherhood member who threatened to turn Kane in--to the obligatory scene in the Goldsmiths' place as Bahoud is zeroing in on his target though a rifle scope. The battle of psychos doesn't look nearly as original in an antiterrorist setting as it did in Prayer for the Dead--but Wiltse evokes the creepy intensity of the hunter and his prey as well as anybody who's worked that genre in years. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042513976X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425139769
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,476,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like watching a cat stalking his prey, August 21, 1997

By 

E. Arthur (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Close to the Bone (Paperback)

In "Close to the Bone" John Becker is after a different kind of killer, a paid assassin with skills nearly matching his own. The characters are vividly drawn by this expert of suspense. David Wiltse did it again with this book. Be prepared to hold on to this book with both hands and make sure your doors are locked. Excellent! Wiltse is truly the master of keeping the tension building

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Close to the Bone, November 13, 2001

By 

Peter Stanhope (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close To The Bone (Hardcover)

Author David Wiltse must be prescient. A friend loaned me his copy of this wonderful book which is out of print (why?) and I was bowled over. It's about the search for a terrorist in New York City. Talk about relevant after September 11. But for all the adventure and plot (and what a great character John Becker is) he also has a very moving portrayal of a young woman in conflict with herself and her yearning sensuality. My only regret is that I didn't read it when it first came out so I could be rereading it now.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder, seduction, and a foiled plan., May 5, 2004

By 

Karissa (Glendale, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close to the Bone (Paperback)

This book is amazing, the first thing I mention when telling people about this book is that one of the main character in it, kills/disables people by jamming objects so hard into his ear and through his skull that he causes permanent brain damage, plus it has a sexual, lusty side to it also. I loved this book and am an avid reader, I read it when I was only 14 or 15, and now, at 19, I can't wait to go back and read it again, see if my opinions have changed. It's very unlikely butit will be interesting to see if it still holds that excitement.