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Dark Horse [Hardcover]

Tami Hoag (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 2004
In her latest thriller, New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag takes readers on a suspense-filled ride of shocks and twists leading to an explosive finish. It is the story of an ex-cop, a missing girl, and a killer locked in a race where there can be only one winner--and the losers die trying.

In a trailer in a Florida swamp, time is running out for eighteen year-old Erin Seabright. A pawn in a kidnapper's terrifying game for a ransom no one can pay, her last hope is a washed-up ex-cop who has already lost it all-not once, but twice.

The wealthy world of the Palm Beach horse set seems a long way from a cop's world in the narcotics division. A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff's detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and BackTop alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn't deserve to have a future. But the past is about to come back with a vengeance, and the future is about to become a race between life and death.

A young woman is missing and her twelve year-old stepsister comes to Estes for help. No one but serious, studious Molly Seabright seems concerned about what's happened to her troubled older sister. But Molly is convinced Erin is in danger. Estes has no P.I. license, no interest in a new career, and no desire to break her self-imposed exile. But the more she learns about the people Erin Seabright was involved with, the more her long-dormant cop instincts come back to life.

One trip to the show grounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the glittering, ultra-rich facade is an ultra-ruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. A world of dissolute playboys and crooked horse-dealers, of royalty and rabble, of rivals and enemies. An obscenely wealthy world where anything can be had for a price--including a life.

And in that world stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a dark, twisted trail of decadence and deceit, mayhem and murder--from the gilded life of Palm Beach to the darkest corners of the Florida swamps, to a final show-down that could cost her everything. A race against time and evil. A race in which Estes is the dark horse--and no one is betting on her to win.


From the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The professional horse world, as seen through Hoag's eyes, is full of intrigue, glitter and skullduggery. Elena Estes is a former cop whose bravado on the force resulted in a colleague's death; it also cost her her job and her self-esteem, not to mention the psychological and physical fallout from nearly being shot. She's been keeping a low profile at a friend's Florida ranch, but her world is disrupted when 12-year-old Molly Seabright, wise beyond her years, attempts to hire Elena to find her older sister, Erin, who has been missing for two days. As Elena digs deeper into Erin's disappearance, the dark side of the horse-show set is revealed. Hoag (Night Sins; Dust to Dust), herself an experienced equestrian, shows off her dressage-to-showing knowledge of the sport as she weaves behind-the-scenes tidbits about the training, competitions, horse brokers and grooms into a plot that gallops along. Though she is a master of suspense, the story falters when a major secret about the kidnapping is exposed. There are too many bad guys who may be in on the scheme, and readers will feel cheated by the improbable 11th-hour revelation. It's too bad Hoag felt the need to undercut her plot with schemes and counterschemes, since she finds plenty of tension in the equestrian world she examines here and doesn't need the contrivance. Nonetheless, she has enough skill and drawing power to propel this, her 10th book, onto bestseller lists.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Elena Estes leaves the Palm Beach County sheriff's office in disgrace after causing the death of a fellow copand gallops straight into trouble at an international riding competition in Florida's horse country.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Hardcover
  • Publisher: San Val; First edition (June 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1417804211
  • ISBN-13: 978-1417804214
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,063,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers--Deeper Than The Dead, and Secrets To The Grave. Set in the late '80's, this series explores crime fighting in the early days of modern forensic science and criminal profiling. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller list with Night Sins, and each of her books since has best a bestseller. She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage.

 

Customer Reviews

80 Reviews
5 star:
 (42)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (18)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (80 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read, September 11, 2004
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dark Horse (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't understand why other reviews say this book was disappointing or confusing. Once I got into the book, the characters were fairly easy to keep track of and there wasn't that much about the horse world to make it confusing. I will admit, I did figure out who the real criminals were before it ended. Nonetheless, it was a great read and I read it in a day or so.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not her best work, November 30, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Dark Horse (Hardcover)
Dark Horse was not a bad book, but it did take me an awful long time to read, which in my terms basically means that the story wasn't intriguing enough for me to not want to put it down. I liked the main character, Elena Estes, but it also seemed like more of the same as in many of her other books...female in a role of law enforcement that did something that has turned all her colleagues against her so she is now an outsider and must try to do her job while dealing with their animosity.. does anyone else feel like this formula is getting kind of old in her books. I'd like to maybe read something a little different for once. Aside from that fact, the story wasn't bad, it just wasn't that intriguing; and the ending was not very satifying to me. I'm still a fan of Tami Hoag, but I really did not find this to be her best work.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great novel, September 8, 2002
This review is from: Dark Horse (Hardcover)
Tami Hoag is probably (alongside Ruth Rendell) my very favourite female author. I love her plots, i love the way she sometimes mixes romance and suspense, i love her range (she's written everything from straight-romance to serial killer novels) i love her punchy writing style (she can come up with some really glittering sentences) and, most of all, i love the way she draws her characters as realistic, fully realised people.

This novel tells the story of a simple kidnapping, which evolves into something altogether more sinister and complex. The heroine is one Elena Estes, an ex-cop who, once upon a time, made a bad decision that cost a colleauge his life. She has retreated to the world she knew before, the world of horse rearing which she so loves. But then, one day, a young girl comes to ask her for help, and Estes finds herself unable to refuse, drawn into a web of intrigue and crime which depresses her, but that she feels must be fought against.

Estes is a brilliant character...(this is Hoag's first novel in the first person, and it works very well, by the way. Some authorsd find the transition ahrd...Hoag has found the way with ease.) She is likeable, quirky, and extremely entertaining throught the adventure. She more than makes up for the intense unlikeableness of many of the other characters.

Another wonderful (and moving) aspect of this book is the delightful youngster Molly Seabright, sister of the missing girl. She is a wonderful, wonderful presence and brightens the book in every single scene in which she appears. She is brilliantly and emotioanlly. Her innocence contrasts frighteningly with the darkness and crulety of many of the other characters and events. (In fact, some may find that there are a few too many unpleasant characters in this novel, and would prefer some more nice, likeable ones. At times it would have been great to have a few more nice people to read about, instead of the selfish and insular indivudals which populate this novel). However, these nasty characters all help to create a sense of fear and tension which fairly ratchets up, and towards the end blossoms with a sense of inevitable awfulness about to occur.

I will admit that no, this is not Tami Hoag's best book (i myself will always think that that is "Cry Wolf", a masterpiece of a story) it's not even second or third, but it still gets five stars, which can only demonstrate the sublime quality of her books. The plot is complex and interesting, it is easy to understand, despite its complexity, there are some hreat characters and some nice twists to the story (particularly the one at the end...) which help keep it fresh and interesting. Her writing style is quirky and brilliant, eminently readable and entertaining. This novel is original (giving insights into the world of horse-rearing) and always manages to sustain interest by the fact that Hoag explores many plot-paths, (as she always does to marvellous effect and enjoyability, helping to build a multi-layered and full novel) down the lives of characters, who, by the end of the story, you will either love or loathe.

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
grooming stall, tack stall, ransom drop, equestrian center
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Van Zandt, Don Jade, Erin Seabright, Bruce Seabright, Trey Hughes, Paris Montgomery, Jill Morone, Michael Berne, The Players, Molly Seabright, Detective Landry, Palm Beach, Krystal Seabright, Elle Stevens, Elena Estes, Bert Shapiro, Billy Golam, Chad Seabright, Lorinda Carlton, Park Lane, Hector Ramirez, Equestrian Estates, James Landry, Lucky Dog Farm, Sallie Hughes
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