Irresistible (Conrad Voort Novels) [Hardcover]

Ethan Black (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2000 | Series: Conrad Voort Novels

Nora Clay knows your secrets. She knows everything about you-- your cravings, your indiscretions, your crimes. She knows what terrifies you. Devastatingly sexy and deceptively lethal, Nora Clay can expose the liars, phonies, tricksters, and fools.

And she will make them pay. . . .

But nobody knows Nora Clay, who moves undetected through New York City, shadowing her unsuspecting prey like an avenger. Once she has seduced her victim, she will leave him sweating, hungry for more. Until she stabs out his life in a flash of fury and steel. That is how TV producer Paul Anderson meets his grisly end.

In the middle of Manhattan's worst heat wave in twelve years, sex crimes detective Conrad Voort is assigned the disturbing case. Though distracted by the two women in his own life, and facing a shocking personal revelation, Voort presses on. At the murder scene he finds a taunting message scrawled on the wall with angry stems and slashes: I KNOW YOU. And the killing is far from over. For Nora Clay "knows" other men. Including Conrad Voort. Now, as he pursues one of the most elusive and brilliant killers he has ever confronted, the hunter becomes the hunted.

As the mercury climbs, so does the tension in Ethan Black's gripping new novel of psychological suspense. Featuring a serial seductress as venomous as she is irresistible, this flashy, erotic thriller pulsates with desire and menace.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, June 2000: Serial killers are everywhere, but thankfully the most ingenious and uncatchable ones stick to the pages of fiction, where readers can encounter them at moments of their own choosing... and when fully prepared. Ethan Black's Irresistible posits that rarely seen creature, the female homicidal nutcase, who in this instance plies her trade amid the anonymous masses of Manhattan. Obviously, Nora Clay has some troubling secrets in her past, traumas that lead her to slice and dice what turns out to be a carefully targeted group of men. She leaves too few clues behind to enable the cops to get a fix on who she might be and why she's turning guys into lunchmeat. When the first victim is found, with the words "I KNOW YOU" printed in large black letters across his bathroom wall, NYPD sex crimes investigator Conrad Voort has little idea that this crazed killer might "know" him, too. Black, author of the equally grisly and entertaining The Broken Hearts Club, has perhaps gone a little over the top--not in his creation of the death-dealing pocket Venus, Nora Clay, but in his portrayal of Voort, a New Yorker of ancient Knickerbocker lineage who's also rich enough to tool around the city's crime scenes in a $70K Jaguar.

Among my favorite books are those like Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, Philip MacDonald's Warrant for X, and S.S. Van Dine's The Bishop Murder Case, in which a teasing, taunting killer exhibits lethal behavior while providing notes and clues to challenge the police, all the while remaining hidden in a city's throngs. In this case, as in so many others, what looks to be utter madness has method behind it. What's even more chilling is, finally, the way the driven and camouflaged Nora Clay turns out to be as vulnerable to Voort's manipulations as she was, long ago, to the schoolboys who destroyed her. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly

A female serial killer who knows everyone's secrets is at the center of Black's gripping, fast-moving second novel featuring New York City sex-crimes detective Conrad Voort (who debuted in The Broken Hearts Club). As the book opens, Voort is fantasizing about ex-girlfriend Camilla Ryan, host of a TV newsmagazine show and a possible suspect in the vicious mutilation and murder of network executive Paul Anderson. But Anderson is only one of four targets who have been marked for death by the real killer, the vivacious and insane Nora Clay. As the murders continue, Voort tries to balance his longing for Camilla with his feelings for a new (and newly pregnant) girlfriend. Investigators, believing conventional wisdom that serial killers are usually male, are thrown off-track by the clues left in Nora's wake. Voort's search for the common denominator that links the dead men leads to Nora, who works as a transcript typist. Her job gives Nora access to New York's best-kept secrets, which she uses to track her potential victimsAand now Voort is on her list. Black has built his tale on character more than on plotAeverything that Nora does is grounded in her solidly detailed and tragic past, making her a credible villain. He also expertly interweaves recurring themes, such as commitment issues, parenting and knowledge-as-power, to connect even the minor characters to the main mystery. In a single riveting sequence, the climax unites every thread Black has spun into the web of his stylish thriller. BOMC and QPB selections; audio rights to Dove. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345433475
• ISBN-13: 978-0345433473
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Heat Is Deadly, July 24, 2000

By 

"goldcoastreviews" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irresistible (Conrad Voort Novels) (Hardcover)

You're in swanky Manhattan. Everyone is sweltering through New York City's worst heat wave in 12 years. What could be worse? Hmmm....how about a seductive female serial killer? Is that her reflection as you peer into Balducci's pastry laden window? Is that her smiling provocatively as you jog along in pools of sweat through Central Park?

In "Irresistible", we meet Nora Clay, a revenge ladened woman who is out to get her men. Literally. Almost as a spider weaves a web, snares its prey then devours it, Nora has her list of victims and prepares her killing webs. Which just may include NYPD's sex crimes investigator, Conrad Voort.

I liked this thriller. About time women took their place in the serial killing genre, not just solving. Author Ethan Black intricately weaves a fashionable hot hot deadly plot.

Thank you for your interest & comments--CDS

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexy thriller, May 25, 2000

By 

P. Woods "Old Bookseller" (Overland Park, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Irresistible (Conrad Voort Novels) (Hardcover)

This second book by the author of "Broken Hearts Club" is really very sexy, tense, and a good read all around. It features Conrad Voort, of the pre-revolutionary war Voorts of New York. He's the richest cop on NYPD. Lives in a $4.5 million three story home that has been in the family since New York was Dutch and still lives with all the now priceless antiques that furnished the original home. Also, he's a terrific cop. New York is suffering through one of the worst heat waves in recent memory, but crime marches on. Specifically in the form of that rare thing, a female serial killer. Or so it would seem. They are so rare that even the famed FBI profilers are of no help. She's Nora Clay and she's beautiful and alluring. So much so that she seems to be "irresistible" to anyone she goes after. Paul Anderson, a producer for NBC is found slashed to ribbons in his penthouse. Then come two more murders in rapid succession, both repeatedly stabbed and slashed in what appears to be an uncontrollable frenzy. What's the connection between these men? Neither the police or the feds are able to connect the dead men in any meaningful way. Conrad Voort and his partner, Mickie, work the midnight oil trying to find this killer before another man is murdered. What shocks them both is to find out that Conrad is next on the list. To complicate matters, Conrad is between two women, both of them important to him. I haven't read "Broken Hearts Club". Don't know why. Just missed that one. If it's as good as this second one in the series, then it's well worth pursuing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Like Detective Fiction - This Is Tops!, November 7, 2001

By 

Joseph L Burke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irresistible (Conrad Voort Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the second novel in a series featuring Conrad Voort, the richest detective in New York. It is about a female serial killer who hates men. What makes this novel (and the other books in the series) so enjoyable is that it mixes police work with the personal (romantic/sexual) life of hero Voort - and that life is a fascinating, well-written one. I read this genre all the time but I found Ethan Black's novels more enjoyable than most. My problem is that he doesn't write them fast enough and so far there are only three published.