Doubleback (Georgia Davis Series) [Kindle Edition]

Libby Fischer Hellmann (Author)

Book Description

     

Little Molly Messenger is kidnapped on a sunny June morning. Three days later she's returned, apparently unharmed. Molly's mother, Chris, is so grateful to have her daughter back that she's willing to overlook the odd circumstances.

A few days later, the brakes go out on Chris's car.

An accident? Maybe. Except that it turns out that Chris, the IT manager at a large Chicago bank, may have misappropriated three million dollars. Not convinced that his daughter is safe, Molly's father hires PI Georgia Davis to follow the money and investigate Chris's death.

Doubleback, the sequel to the acclaimed Easy Innocence, reunites PI Georgia Davis with video producer Ellie Foreman (An Eye For Murder, A Picture Of Guilt, An Image Of Death, A Shot To Die For). The two women track leads from Northern Wisconsin to an Arizona border town, where illegal immigrants, smuggled drugs, and an independent contractor called Delton Security come into play. Georgia and Ellie go to great lengths to find the truth, and Georgia discovers that you can cross a line, but sometimes you have to double back.

Doubleback was chosen by the Great Lakes Bookseller Association as their Autumn, 2009 "Great Lakes Great Read."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anthony-finalist Hellmann's taut second novel of suspense to feature Chicago PI Georgia Davis (after Easy Innocence) teams Davis with video producer Ellie Foreman, the heroine of the author's other series (A Shot to Die for, etc.). When eight-year-old Molly Messenger is apparently kidnapped, a family friend turns to Ellie for help. Feeling out of her depth, Ellie asks Georgia to get involved, only to have the girl reappear unharmed just days later. After Molly's bank manager mother, Christine, dies in a suspicious car accident, Georgia gets on a trail that leads from Wisconsin to Arizona. Meanwhile, Ellie stumbles onto a paramilitary training camp connected to Christine's bank. Hellmann skillfully juggles disparate threads of bank fraud, extortion, drugs and illegal immigration. While some may find the use of dual narrators confusing, it works with Ellie's cooler-head yin balancing out Georgia's take-no-prisoners yang. (Oct.)
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Review

Teaming up two strong, intelligent lead characters makes for a rich, suspenseful story in Libby Fischer Hellmann's DOUBLEBACK -- Oline Cogdill, Mystery Scene

Hellman's new book is one tough cookie. She has combined her two protagonists into a strong and moving novel. Others have done this; with Doubleback, Hellmann proves she can stand up to peer pressure.

--January Magazine, The Rap Sheet , Dick Adler

Libby Hellmann knows how to reel in a reader, and she does it expertly in DOUBLEBACK. One of the tensest opening scenes ever written is just the introduction to a true puzzler of a thriller. --Tess Gerritsen, NYT Bestselling author of THE KEEPSAKE

DOUBLEBACK moves with twists, insightful juxtapositions, and many layers. Hellmann doesn't need to "doubleback." She's indisputably crossed the line into the realm of great crime fiction writers. --Crimespree Magazine

DOUBLEBACK is a high-octane rocket ride through ripped-from-the-headlines issues and across the country...Let's hope we see much more of the tough-as-nails PI Georgia Davis and her relentless partner Ellie Foreman. --C.J. Box, author of BELOW ZERO

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 424 KB
• Print Length: 300 pages
• Publisher: The Red Herrings Press (October 11, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002SG7OWG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,269 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fearless October 20, 2009

By Sam Sattler TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

"Doubleback," the latest from Libby Fischer Hellmann,is my first exposure to her work. Hellmann is the author of a series of suspense novels featuring video producer Ellie Foreman, and "Doubleback" is her second novel to feature Private Investigator Georgia Davis. Fans of the Ellie Foreman series will be pleased to learn that Ellie appears in "Doubleback" and helps PI Georgia Davis run down the bad guys. The relationship between these two very independent women is, in fact, so much fun to watch that I will be looking for Hellmann's earlier books.

It all starts for Georgia when Ellie asks her to speak with the mother of a little girl who, only hours earlier, has been kidnapped. Despite Georgia's advice that the police need to be called in immediately, the little girl's mother, Chris, fears for the safety of her daughter and refuses to make the phone call. Three days later, when the little girl is released unharmed and appears at the front door of her house things begin to get strange.

Just a few days after the safe return of her daughter, the brakes on Chris's car fail and she is involved in what the police, at least for the moment, are calling a traffic accident. Georgia, who at times seems to see herself as some kind of avenging angel, has continued to nose around on her own in hope of catching up with the villains who have so badly traumatized the little girl. Consequently, when the child's father, fearing for the immediate safety of his daughter, agrees to hire Georgia to find those responsible for her kidnapping, she is more than ready to continue her efforts. The pieces finally begin to fall into place for Georgia when she learns that Chris may have embezzled $3 million from her bank employer in a scheme that started not long before her daughter was kidnapped.

Georgia is a fearless and dedicated investigator and, with major assistance from Ellie, she begins to make the wrong people very nervous. Her investigation will carry her from Chicago, where it all started, to Wisconsin, and on to an Arizona border town where the rules of the Old West still seem to be in play while illegal immigrants and drugs cross into the U.S.

By the time "Doubleback" reaches its exciting conclusion, Georgia is already battered, bruised and having to compensate for a broken arm. Considering the hornet's nest she has stirred up, though, she is lucky to be alive. She knows that - but she is going to make someone pay, or she is going to die trying, maybe both.

Georgia Davis and Ellie Foreman make a winning team and readers of "Doubleback" will want to see the two work together again in future books. Author Hellman is in the enviable position of being able to continue with two individual series or to merge the two into a new one. Either way is fine with me because I am now a fan of both ladies.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 6 stars! April 30, 2011

By raymayray

Format:Kindle Edition

This novel is great. It bursts out of the gate with an action packed first scene, and the action never lets up. There wasn't a single dry moment in the entire book, and it kept me on edge the whole time. Suspense is built masterfully, and the climax is phenomenal. 6/5 stars!!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Taut timely excellent successful merger October 7, 2009

By carl brookins VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Excellent novel. It is not unusual for an author of crime fiction who has them, to bring together two or more protagonists from different series. It is less usual for the blend to be this successful, particularly when the two women involved are as different as are private investigator Georgia Davis, late of a North Shore (Illinois) suburban police department, and commercial television producer, Ellie Foreman. One is single, the other divorced with a teen-aged daughter.

Davis is a classical tough female investigator, although she lacks enough experience to avoid some fairly obvious traps the author throws at her. Foreman, on the other hand, the more cautious but more experienced mystery solver, is a good stay-at-home worrier. The point being the two women play well off each other. One of the interesting twists is the way the two become involved in this nasty thing.

Foreman drags a reluctant Davis into an investigation of the kidnapping of a child, little Molly Messenger. Davis knows the police have far better resources to handle this, but Foreman is persistent. Later, as the tension winds up and the question of why Molly suddenly reappears, her mother, an IT manager at a big local bank, has a questionable accident, and then her boss has a similar mishap. Suspicions rise and very quickly, PI Davis take the bit in her teeth, in a manner of speaking. The tables are turned and Foreman is unable to restrain her new friend from haring off on what is clearly becoming a dangerous case of the highest order.

Born of current mid-east activity, the novel carefully blends first and third points of view in a way that enhances the action and the mystery. This is a fine example of a novelist who stretches her talent and her vision to create a fast-paced, enthralling work of fiction. I for one hope we see more of these two tough competent women working together.