Harm's Way (Alan Gregory Series) [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Stephen White (Author), Dick Hill (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 2003 | Series: Alan Gregory Series (Book 4)

When Dr. Alan Gregory's good friend Peter Arvin is found bloody and dying on the stage of a Colorado theatre, suspicion soars that he has become the second victim of a killer whose first prey was discovered amid the elaborate scenery of the road company's production of the Broadway show Miss Saigon. Alan is immediately asked to respond to two pleas for help: one from the police, who would like a psychological profile of the murderer, and one from Peter's widow, who is desperate to know the meaning of her dead husband's secrets. As Alan struggles to cope with the complexities of his new marriage and the shattering personal consequences of his friend's murder, provocative clues lead him down a trail that winds from the Front Range of the Rockies to the casinos of the Colorado high country and finally to the grandeur outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His journey takes him deep into Peter's past and inevitably toward the discovery of harrowing truths about the human heart - about the struggle for survival and the quest for forgiveness - that seem always just out of his reach, obscured by the smoke of a long-forgotten fire.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The extravagantly showy murder of a very private man opens White's engrossing fourth story about Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory (following Higher Authority). Alan's friend and neighbor, Peter Arvin, a skilled woodworker and solo mountain climber, is found tortured and bleeding to death on top of a grand piano on the stage of the Boulder Theatre. After Peter dies at the hospital where his wife, Adrienne, is a urologist, police detective Sam Purdy asks Alan to work up an informal profile of the killer to see whether it matches that of the person being sought for a similar murder in Denver. Complying with Adrienne's desire to be able to tell her young son, Jason, more about his father, Alan also investigates Peter's past. These linked efforts, soon complicated by a third theater murder in a nearby town, call on the full reach of Alan's professional skills and lead him into unexpected territory, psychological and geographic. He visits Jackson, Wyo., to find out from Peter's family about a forest fire Peter experienced as a young man, and he encounters danger at the construction site of a Colorado casino where more murders are discovered. All the while, he observes the relationships of others?Peter and Adrienne's unique marriage; the attraction of the woman cop in charge of the Denver murder to Sam Purdy; his own attraction to Jason Arvin's young nanny?through the lens of his love for his new ( and second) wife, Lauren, an assistant DA who makes some cogent observations of her own about the crimes. White, a psychologist, informs this intricate tale with convincing emotion.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Is there a serial killer staging grisly murders in northern Colorado theaters, or was the murderer of Alan Gregory's neighbor, Peter Arvin, mimicking a recent Denver killing? Boulder detective and friend Sam Purdy asks clinical psychologist Gregory to profile the murderer(s), while the widow urges Gregory to find out about Arvin's life before he met her. The trail leads from Arvin's family to a college pal and a casino construction site in a growing gambling town near Boulder, where the rising body count defies forensic resolution. At risk of his life, Gregory and his assistant D.A. wife help Purdy unravel the web of consequences of a single past decision. In White's fourth thriller, Gregory once again takes center stage, after a supporting role in Higher Authority (LJ 10/1/94). This highly recommended title is skillfully plotted with a cast of finely drawn characters and a strong sense of place.
V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD; Abridged edition (June 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590868587
• ISBN-13: 978-1590868584
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,591,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen White is a clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of suspense novels, including Dead Time and The Siege. He lives in Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Characters Created By A Clinical Psychologist, November 14, 2004

By 

Peter Kenney (Birmingham, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harm's Way (Alan Gregory) (Mass Market Paperback)

Peter Arvin is brutally attacked while working late on a set at a theatre in Boulder. He dies in the emergency room of a hospital, the apparent victim of a ritual killing. Police Detective Sam Purdy asks Dr. Alan Gregory to create a psychological profile of the murderer. Peter's widow Adrienne also asks Alan to find out more about her dead husband's past. She realizes that there is so much she does not know about him.

The dark secret in Peter's background involved his work as a counselor at a wilderness camp for boys during the summer of 1982. Peter and two other young adults were leading a group of six boys on a survival experience. The group was caught in a wildfire and one boy died. The catastrophe converted Peter into a dedicated loner who seemed to have developed a total lack of trust in others. His sense of guilt became so severe that he built a coffin for himself with the date of the fire inscribed at eye level on the inside of the coffin's lid.

Alan concludes that there is a connection between the fire and Peter's murder. He sees the Denver murder as the act of a different person who probably committed suicide shortly after the crime. Detective Dale Hunter disagrees and argues that both murders were done by the same killer. Sam and Alan remain unconvinced and as they continue to follow their own leads, they begin to realize that they will be lucky to finish this case alive.

The author is a clinical psychologist whose greatest strength lies in the development of memorable chacters who come to life in his novels.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LIKE JONATHAN KELLERMAN AND PATRICIA CORNWELL, BECAUSE I LIKE TO READ ADULT SUSPENSE READER, I LOVE IT, November 12, 2005

By 

Ryan Blanck "Ryan Blanck" (Vernon, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harm's Way (Alan Gregory) (Mass Market Paperback)

When Dr Alan Gregory's good friend Peter Arvin is found dying on the stage of a Colorado theater, suspicion soars that he is the second victim of a serial killer. Now the police want Alan to create a psychological profile of the murder. Peter's widow wants to know her husband's secrets. And Alan is desperate to know who killed his friend--and why. Did the guilty party have a sick taste for show biz? Was the murderer inspired by greed or by vengeance? Or by forbidden sex? Alan Gregory follows the trail of naked violence and hidden shame from Denver to the peaceful town of Boulder and to the wanton wonderland of Jackson Hole. He thought he knew his late late friend--but what he didn't know could kill him....

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another exciting book from Stephen White..., July 9, 2006

By 

Niki L. Snowden (Palm Desert, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harm's Way (Alan Gregory) (Mass Market Paperback)

Stephen White has the courage to kill off a beloved recurring character in the first chapter! Another novel about beautiful Boulder, Colorado, fascinating lessons in psychology and a story that will surprise you with its ending. You won't be able to put this book down.