The Devil's Bed [Audio CD]

William Kent Krueger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2005

Locked in a tight battle for re-election, President Clay Dixon knows his best chance for victory is the popularity of his wife, Katie. But the disenchanted First Lady is about to desert him. When an orchard accident seriously injures Kate's father, a retired senator and former vice-president, she returns to the family farm in Minnesota to be at his side. Assigned to protect her, Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen soon falls under Kate's spell. Bo suspects that the accident is part of a trap to lure the First Lady home, a trap set by a man named David Moses, an escaped mental patient who once loved Kate. But although Bo and Moses don't realize it, they're caught in a larger web of deadly intrigue, spun by a shadowy, seemingly, insignificant bureaucratic department within the federal government itself. Racing to find answers before an assassin's bullet finds it mark, Bo comes to understand that when you lie down with the Devil, there is hell to pay. Read by Jerry Sciarrio 11 CD's $ 29.99

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of Krueger's Cork O'Connor mystery series (Iron Lake; Boundary Waters; etc.) will have to postpone the pleasures of the much-anticipated fourth volume, but the wait will be well spent with this fast-paced stand-alone political thriller. President Clay Dixon, campaigning for reelection, is falling behind in the polls. Worse, the popular first lady, Kate Jorgenson Dixon, disappointed by Clay's lost idealism, resolves to abandon their marriage-a disaster for his faltering campaign, not to mention his emotional stability. Kate flies back to her native rural Minnesota when she hears that her father, ex-senator Tom Jorgenson, has suffered a farming accident that has nearly killed him. The police declare it an unfortunate mishap, but it isn't-an escaped mental patient has initiated a long-planned vendetta that includes not only Tom but Kate as well. Chilling, mesmerizing lunatic David "Nightmare" Moses, who was once in love with Kate, steals the page each time he makes an appearance. Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen, who protects the first lady, contends with Moses as well as with backstabbing colleagues, scheming Washington politicians and minions of a sinister, secret government agency that appears to have some tie to Moses. Occasional clunky writing and an over-the-top patriotic coda mar the novel, but this will hardly matter to most readers. Nonstop action, abundant romantic complications and a wealth of mayhem keep Krueger's plot speeding toward its suspenseful, blood-soaked climax.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Edgar Award-winning author Steve Hamilton When you read a William Kent Krueger book, you're taken back to a place so real it's like home, with characters so close to you they feel like family....[He's] so good I want to kill him. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Books in Motion (May 1, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 1596070781
• ISBN-13: 978-1596070783
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #742,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For more than two decades, William Kent Krueger has made his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and two children. His Cork O'Connor novels, Iron Lake (winner of the 1998 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and the Barry Award), Boundary Waters, Purgatory Ridge, Blood Hollow (winner of the 2004 Anthony Award for Best Novel), Mercy Falls (winner of the 2005 Anthony Award for Best Novel), Copper River (winner of a 2006 Minnesota Book Award) and Thunder Bay (winner of the 2007 Minnesota Book Award for Best Genre Fiction), as well as the political thriller The Devil's Bed, are available from Atria Books. Visit his website at www.williamkentkrueger.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting thriller, February 2, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Bed (Hardcover)

President Daniel Clay Dixon is running for reelection but his opponent leads in all the polls even those sanctioned by the incumbent. Daniel's wife Kate feels estranged from him because he's being influenced more and more by his father Senator William Dixon and the men associated with him. When Kate's father, the former vice-president is hurt in what looks like an accident on his farm, she rushes to his bedside leaving the president in Washington.

Secret Service agent Bo Thorsen is in charge of protecting the First Lady when she's in Minnesota and his instincts tell him her life is in danger as is that of her father. He finds proof that the ex-vice-president was deliberately injured and the person who is after the duo has a long time grudge against them. Bo is able to foil the first assassination attempt but the next effort has tentacles that reach into the highest levels of government making it nearly impossible to stop it in time.

THE DEVIL'S BED is an exciting thriller that starts off at light speed and never slows down. The president, his wife and the cabal members are three-dimensional characters who seem real with plausible actions on each of their parts. The hero is the kind of man one wants in office because he is honorable, patriotic and most importantly, trustworthy. William Kent Krueger, the author of the Cork O'Connor mystery series, has written his best work yet.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the devils bed book review, December 5, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Devil's Bed (Mass Market Paperback)

Bo Thorsen is a secret service agent assigned to the first lady's detail when she goes to visit her injured father who was a former Minnesota Senator Tom Jorgensen. Bo thinks the senator's accident may have been planned. In the background are the U.S. President, his re-election campaign and his strained relations with the first lady. When a mental patient and assassin, David Moses escapes the widening implications of the accident, the first lady's safety, and the president's re-election seem to be related in some way.

The most interesting character I think is the mental patient David Moses, smart, scary and who has had an unspeakable horror of childhood. David is the best drawn and as a result over balances the book. "The Devil's Bed" begins with an exciting prologue, and begins with a gripping pace. Events seem to fall over one another. The book gives a good background on Bo, who has so much in common with David, but as a child was taken back rather than permanently abandoned. About at the halfway point in the book, it starts to lose focus. It gets a little bit too much into government, conspiracy, agencies, and politicians.

I would recommend this book to people who like thrilling stories about blood and psychotic people that escaped from mental institutions. If you do not like horror books and movies then you probably shouldn't read this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KRUEGER'S KILLERS, September 30, 2003

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Bed (Hardcover)

I have been delighted by Krueger's first three novels involving Cork O'Connor and his adventures; this first "standalone" is equally gripping and could turn into a series for Secret Service guy Bo. The plot is labyrinthine, opening with a gruesome murder by David Moses, who also turns out to be Nightmare, a deranged psychotic who is seeking to kill the First Lady because of a scorned love affair years ago.
Add some vicious government agents, an almost romance with the First Lady and Bo, and some tense suspense scenes, you've got a rip roaring conspiracy novel. Sometimes Bo seems a little less than what you'd expect in a hero (he's always getting beat up), but he is human and that makes him engaging. Krueger's President Clay Dixon evolves from a rather self-centered ass to a really good president during the course of the novel, so that's unusual...if a little incredible. But, hey, fiction is fiction, right?
A good book and I am anxiously awaiting more from Mr. Krueger, maybe both Cork and Bo?