Hit List [Paperback]

Darcia Helle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2009

Sanity is not something you lose, like your car keys or that elusive sock in the dryer. That's what Ian believed before his mother stepped over the edge from sane to crazy. No one is able to give Ian a reasonable explanation. Corinne suffers from severe memory loss, odd behavior, and paranoid delusions. Or at least Ian had been told they were delusions. After all, who would be hiding outside watching his mother? And why? Ian hires private investigator Lucianna Martel to retrace the events of his mother's last sane day. During Lucianna's investigation, she and Ian learn that Corinne may not be so crazy after all.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Originally from Massachusetts, Darcia Helle now writes in the sunshine of Florida. She lives with her husband, 4 spoiled animals, and a bunch of characters roaming through her head.

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (May 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1442189401
• ISBN-13: 978-1442189409
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,730,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Darcia Helle writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. When she gives life to their stories, they live happily within the pages and stop chattering in her head.

You can learn more about Darcia and her writing on her website: http://www.DarciaHelle.com or http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com

The characters await you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, July 7, 2009

By 

Kathy M. Smart "endless reader" (Anna Maria Island FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit List (Paperback)

Hit List has so many twists and turns it is sure to be a great read for anyone! An avid reader, I can usually figure the book out in the first three chapters. Not so with Hit List. This book kept me up reading until late in the night, then tying everything up with a blockbuster ending. If you read one book this year, make Hit List that book!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit List - A Compelling Thriller, September 9, 2009

By 

Charles S. Weinblatt (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit List (Paperback)

Hit List is a thrilling story of suspense, intrigue and crime. Author Darcia Helle weaves an elaborate plot of murder, mental illness, passionate love and crooked cops. Revolving around a woman who is believed to be psychotic, Hit List is replete with action, anxiety and adventure. Helle carries the reader through a chilling escapade of crime, conspiracy, passion and homicide.

Ian's mother, Corrine, chanting and rocking, sometimes catatonic, appears to suffer from mental illness. She presents all of the mannerisms of psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia. Corrine's apparently irrational fears and free-floating anxiety seem to be the result of a ravaging psychosis. Or, are they? Only her son, Ian, believes that something might be amiss. He hires a beautiful, vivacious private investigator, Lucianna, to resolve the unanswered, bothersome questions. But, Ian soon finds himself infatuated with the voluptuous private eye.

Lucianna, gruff and all business on the outside, is fragile and vulnerable on the inside. Plagued by the murder/suicide of her own parents, Lucianna is compelled to determine the truth in the case of Corrine. All the while, she is drawn in by the allure of Ian. Something disturbing, deep within the story, draws Lucianna to the case. As she becomes emotionally involved with Ian, the two characters are enveloped first with passion and later with love. Surrounded by treachery and fear, they draw upon each other for strength. Add to the mix, a shady psychiatrist named Endicott, unethical, eavesdropping cops and a crime organization, bent upon eliminating anyone with potential knowledge of their illicit efforts.

Helle's effort is compelling, thrilling fiction, with persuasive mystery, convincing characters, ubiquitous trepidation, and a breathtaking conclusion. This tale is wrapped together into a taught package of excitement and intrigue. Helle has created a powerful page-turner, with gripping tension; it contains a gripping timeline and malevolent criminals eager to prey upon an innocent man's mother.

Helle creates masterful scenarios with engrossing dialog to weave a frightening tale fraught with continuous peril. This novel flies along with engrossing and entertaining dialog. Just when you begin to believe that you comprehend the plot, there is a twist or turn carrying the rapt reader in a different direction.

While some authors create vibrancy via description, Helle uses dialog to carry the story forward. She accomplishes this with exceptional writing and imagination. Helle is masterful in storytelling via dialog.

Hit List is a fast-paced, suspenseful adventure, compelling the reader to continue turning the pages. Helle's character formation is top notch, with vibrant context, exceptional dialog and a moving narrative. This is a book difficult to put down.

Congratulations to Helle for her captivating detective story. One can only anticipate the cinematic appearance of this frightening, entertaining yarn.

Charles S. Weinblatt
Author, Jacob's Courage: A Holocaust Love Story

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bestseller!!!!!!!!!!!!, August 31, 2009

By 

LawrenceSvetlana (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hit List (Paperback)

Like everybody else, I have my favorite detective novel authors: Dan Brown, Anne Stuart, Robert B. Parker (only his first 10-12 books or so), Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, David Baldacci, Christine Feehan and a few others.
Those among you familiar with these authors can appreciate the mastery with which they craft their books. Most of the books written by them would get 10 out of 10 from me.
When I started reading "Hit List" by Darcia Helle, I quickly realized that this book is placing very high on my list. While no one can come close to Agatha Christie, James Lee Burke and Conan Doyle, she was standing tall right next to Robert Crais, Michael Connolly, Anne Stuart, Christine Feehan and Robert B. Parker.
It was definitely better than "Silver Falls", the last book by Anne Stuart, and right behind her famous Ice Series. Better than everything Parker wrote in the last seven years, and holding its own against Baldacci, Connelly and Sandra Brown.
The story is so well written, and it keeps you guessing until the very end. The characters are literary marvels, no clichés here. Dialogue is authentic, pace is great, there are little smart observations on life scattered throughout the text that make you think you and the author are old pals trading remarks about life over coffee.
My favorite part of it all is the plot: A woman living alone one day goes crazy! The parts of the book that we see out of her head are the best! Her grown son moves in to help take care of her. He resents it somewhat, it is hard to see mom reduced to a drooling idiot, but then it strikes him: What if she is not crazy? What if someone is really out to get her, watching her, planning revenge? He hires a private investigator Lucianna to find out..... the story skyrockets from there.
It is a great read, very well put together, full of unexpected twists and turns. I see bestseller stamped all over this one!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to the author on such a stunning beginning of her writing career.