Haven [Hardcover]

John R. Maxim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

Elizabeth Stride settled on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island in order to rebuild her life. In this sanctuary, she hopes to escape her past--the violence and the death that for years were her constant companions. Most of all, she wants to forget Martin Kessler, the dangerous hero of a now-lost cause--who will always own a piece of Elizabeth's soul. For Martin's love is a continuing reminder of what Elizabeth once was: the woman they called "Black Angel," the Israeli Mossad's most ruthless and efficient assassin.

Her fury was born in a merciless Middle Eastern prison, where as an American she was detained for crimes she did not commit. She escaped with her life, and by the age of twenty-six, she was already worth $1 million dead. But Martin Kessler, himself now hunted, touched her heart with unfamiliar tenderness. Now he has returned to bring Elizabeth's protective wall of anonymity crashing down.

By joining forces in the daring rescue of a girl who unwittingly holds the key to a planned act of terrorism so horrific that an all-out war could be the only result, Elizabeth and Martin will be forced to put their fate in each other's hands one last time--and decide once and for all whether they must live together or apart. In doing so they will also be drawn again into a violent struggle--a secret war of fanaticism, greed and doomsday technology. Elizabeth Stride and Martin Kessler--the "Angel" and the "Fox"--are about to take on something larger, more complex and terrifying than anything they have ever experienced. And nowhere on earth will be safe for them any longer. There will be no haven.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Elizabeth Stride--known as the "Black Angel" when she worked for Israeli intelligence--chooses the quiet island of Hilton Head off the Carolina coast as her retirement home. She changes her hairstyle and color, takes golf and tennis lessons, and meets a kind doctor named Jonathan--a man her ex-lover, East German spy Martin Kessler, would have called dull. "In truth, Jonathan was a bit dull ... but she now aspired to dullness. She also, however, aspired to a sex life, and that was her one and only problem with him. The flesh on both sides was willing enough but Jonathan Leidner was a doctor, not only a doctor, but a surgeon. He would know bullet wounds if he saw them." It turns out that hiding her bullet wounds in bed are the least of Elizabeth's problems in John R. Maxim's exciting and inventive thriller. Kessler's attempt to relight old fires just happens to coincide with Islamic terrorists planning to attack a local tennis tournament, so Elizabeth's search for a quiet life lasts for very few pages. John Maxim's equally enjoyable The Shadow Box is available in paperback.

From Library Journal

Imagine a male protagonist who is a former Stasi agent and hero of a Communist comic book series whom we come to like and even admire. And take as a female lead an American trained by Israelis as a Middle Eastern assassin, now living quietly on Hilton Head. Combine their tangled love affair with American Muslims hiding runaway Islamic women, Algerian terrorists aided by U.S. mobsters plotting to blow up the island, and government intelligence agents trying to prevent as much of this as they can. Maxim (The Shadow Box, Avon, 1996) constructs a complex plot, juggles numerous characters, and pulls it all off with a cinematic, breathless pace. He knows Hilton Head, the Koran, and international intrigue, and there is something here for everyone?plus good writing and real page-turning suspense. Highly recommended for suspense/thriller collections.?Roland C. Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company; 1st edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380973014
• ISBN-13: 978-0380973019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,555,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John R. Maxim was born in Greenwich Village, NYC, educated at NY Jesuit Schools (Xavier and Fordham) played all the street sports and most team sports.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique, entertaining, and frustrating book, September 9, 2000

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Haven (Paperback)

It's hard to know what to say about John R. Maxim's novel Haven. It manages to be both tremendously entertaining and frustrating at the same time. The books defies easy classification. The central story is more a love story than a thriller but the lovers are both assassins, though with different motivations. The beginning scenes of the novel are harsh, ugly and difficult to take. The book's finale is overlong and also hard to take because, at least for this reader, what happens is not pleasing. But in between there is a complex story, featuring violence, humor, pathos, and a variety of interesting characters. There is also a lot of great dialogue, although the imagined dialogues the lead characters have with one another tend to be a bit overdone.

I haven't read anything else by Maxim, but after this I plan to. Even though this was not a totally satisfying reading experience it was quite entertaining and anyone who can imagine somthing this unlikely and bring it off as well as he does, deserves an audience.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good spy thriller..., September 18, 2000

By 

LadyT - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haven (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

This was my first Maxim book, but it won't be my last.

This story had a nice tight plot that answered all questions posed in the beginning. The opening scene set up the reasons and plausibility of the events to follow. By the end of the opening scene, I knew who I wanted to see "get it" in the story.

The author drops information about the characters throughout the story that makes the motivations behind their actions very easy to understand. They were very likeable and real, and aptly described. In fact, there's one character in the book that I wanted to "shake" in order to make them understand that he/she should learn to listen. But since it's a character in a book, I settled for some mumbling under my breath.

The scenes were well described too; that includes the action scenes as well as the more emotional scenes that tended to provide insight into the characters' lives. There's a pretty good balance of both, which went a long way in helping character development. And the descriptions were good enough to allow you to "see" the action as it was going on. In one scene, I felt as if I were down at the waterfront viewing the events as they happened. This happens a lot in the book. The dialog was also good and appropriate.

The pace changes according to the events in the book. But in any case, the pace was appropriate. The action scenes read faster and the character-building scenes a little slower. However, the book didn't "drag" at all, which would have quickly lost my attention.

While I would have preferred a different ending, the one provided is understandable. Would I recommend this book? Yes. It's a darn good read and worth your time and money.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Book!, November 8, 2002

By 

Melvin Hunt (Cleveland,, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Haven (Paperback)

Elizabeth Stride,a former Israeli assassin known as the "Black Angel" has moved to Hilton Head Island to make her home. She is also trying to escape her past lover Martin Kessler a former Stasi agent.Elizabeth starts dating a surgeon but Martin Kessler reappears.A teenage girl is about to be abducted by an English bounty hunter named Pratt who has been hired by her uncle.This is holds the key to a terrible terrorist act.Elizabeth and Martin join forces to protect this teenage girl and the action begins.They battle the teenage girl's uncle,various terrorist elements and many other forces of evil.You have every kind of gun battle that you can imagine. The action is fast and furious.
The ending of this book is also very good. You will definitely like this book.