Kill the Messenger [Hardcover]

Tami Hoag (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2004

At the end of long, hard day battling LA street traffic and a threatening storm, bike messenger Jace Damon is called on to make one last pick up at a sleazy defense attorney's office - Leonard Lowell. Jace is tired, stressed and needs to get home to check up on his little brother who he's single-handedly bringing up. Jace makes the pick up and sets out for the delivery address, which turns out to be a vacant lot. As if his day hadn't been tough enough, out of nowhere a car appears and tries to run him down. Jace is forced to flee down back alleys trying to escape the unknown assailant giving chase. Making his way back to Lowell's office he arrives to find it trashed, Lowell dead, and himself the prime suspect. Jace is forced to elude both the police and the men who want him dead whilst he attempts to find evidence with which to clear his name. He also has to try to keep Ty, his brother, safe from someone prepared to kill and out of foster care. Who killed Lennie and what did he know?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hoag's success (Dark Horse; Guilty as Sin), evidenced once again in this engaging new thriller, is the triumph of substance over style. In a genre overrun with self-conscious jargon, brooding descriptions and fragments masquerading as sentences, her clean, measured prose—full, balanced sentences delivered at a steady pace—doesn't so much create an ominous mood as draw the reader into the worlds of her characters. Here, before they know it, readers are invested in the dilemma of Los Angeles bike messenger Jace (J.C.) Damon, on the run after picking up a package from high-powered attorney Lenny Lowell, who is subsequently murdered. Orphaned Jace lives under society's radar in Chinatown, with his 10-year-old brother, Tyler; his surrogate family includes sassy dispatcher Eta Fitzgerald and the Chen clan, the boy's closest neighbors. Similarly, the police in pursuit are an unconventional, if dysfunctional, family: long-suffering lead detective Kev Parker; his annoying and ambitious new partner, Renee Ruiz; squabbling second-string detectives Jimmy Chew and Bradley Kyle; and coroner Diane Nicholson, who is also Kev's lover. The wild card in the game is Lowell's daughter, Abby, volatile and full of secrets, which Hoag reveals at appropriate intervals. A link to Hollywood provides a burst of fresh energy in the later chapters of this character-driven, solidly constructed thriller.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Nineteen-year-old Jace Damon has had a hard life. His mother died when he was just 13, and since then he has been struggling to raise his younger brother, all while staying beneath the radar of Child Protective Services. With the help of an understanding Chinese benefactress, Madam Chan, the two have been living in L.A.'s Chinatown, where Jace works as a bike messenger. One dark and rainy night, Jace agrees to do a last delivery. He picks up a package from a shady lawyer, but when he gets to the delivery address, he finds an empty lot; suddenly, someone attacks him and tries to grab the package. The bike messenger takes off, but the attacker pursues him, nearly runs him over with a car, and takes a couple of shots at him. Injured and frightened, Jace returns to Lowell's office only to find the place swarming with cops and the attorney murdered. The plot thickens as Jace attempts to elude both homicide detective Ken Parker, who wants some answers, and a menacing, shadowy figure, who is trying to get that package. Although this novel is a little heavy on the stereotypes, with its preponderance of macho, chauvinistic male cops and lusty, fiery female cops, Hoag's loyal readers and fans of police procedural suspense novels will definitely love it. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing; First British Edition edition (November 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752841262
• ISBN-13: 978-0752841267
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,845,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers--Deeper Than The Dead, and Secrets To The Grave. Set in the late '80's, this series explores crime fighting in the early days of modern forensic science and criminal profiling. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller list with Night Sins, and each of her books since has best a bestseller. She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 10 Stars for this Excellent Thriller!, August 3, 2004

By 

ANDRENA G. DANCER (UPLAND, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kill the Messenger (Hoag, Tami) (Hardcover)

Being an avid Tami Hoag fan, I eagerly awaited her next effort after a two-year hiatus following DARK HORSE. Without a doubt, KILL THE MESSENGER was well worth the wait! From the scene-building, character-developing exposition stages of the novel, to its staggering climax, KILL THE MESSENGER is fast-paced, stimulating, and highly addictive. WARNING...Readers who have essential projects to perform, should not even BEGIN the novel until their projects' completion, because this spell-binding thriller will latch on with a serious death grip until the last page is turned!

A refreshing departure from Ms. Hoag's traditional formula of combining lust with intrigue, KILL THE MESSENGER still treats the reader to unbridled action and suspense; captivating and well-drawn characters; realistic and crisp dialogue; intelligently-crafted prose; and a lightning-paced plot--all set against a Los Angeles backdrop that is painted alternately with upper-class pseudo-glamour, middle-class nouveau-chic, working-class ennui, and lower-class desperation-within which crime, greed, cruelty, and courage are not bound by arbitrary social distinctions.

I anticipate a cinematic portrayal of Ms. Hoag's latest achievement in the very near future, because the adventures of Jace (the hapless, yet resourceful, bicycle messenger); Parker (the ambitious, intuitive, and self-enlightened police detective); Tyler (Jace's brainiac, yet charmingly innocent, 10-year-old brother); Abby (the beautiful and misunderstood daughter of the murdered and maligned decedent); and Andi Kelly (the only journalist who ever gave Parker a break during his long-ago fall from grace within the police department), should not be confined exclusively to the printed page. The novel's EXTREMELY satisfying conclusion (which I will not reveal here) said it all, and, hopefully, some enterprising movie producer will take notice.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another solid suspense thriller by Hoag, September 30, 2005

By 

Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kill the Messenger (Hoag, Tami) (Hardcover)

I have read many of Tami Hoag's books, as I generally enjoy how she combines a solid suspense thriller with steamy romance scenes. I found Kill the Messenger to be a change of pace from her usual style, however, and initially, I found it difficult to get into the story. First of all, the book opens with a much younger main character than usual, Jace, a barely-legal boy from a chaotic background who is working as a bike messenger to try to give his much younger brother a more stable life. Jace becomes unwittingly involved in illegal activies, putting him on the run and providing an entrance for the book's other main character, Kev Parker, a police detective with something to prove. Immediately after these early introductions to Jace and Parker, I didn't have a good feel for either character's personality; both remained a mystery.

As the story continued, however, more well-defined personas for Jace and Parker began to emerge, and the only mystery became the one that Jace was caught up in and that Parker was trying to solve. The frequent shifts between the perspectives of several different characters caused me to become even further engrossed in the novel, and by the final pages, I was eager to reach the book's climax. Here, Hoag does not disappoint, throwing in an unexpected resolution as well as a few surprising aftershocks as well. Ultimately, I enjoyed this book, and although I missed the romance angle, I will continue seeking out Hoag's thrillers in the future.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoag delivers, July 13, 2004

By 

David L. Colgrove "Author of 'Six PM Sunday' ... (L.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kill the Messenger (Hoag, Tami) (Hardcover)

Tami Hoag has long been one of my favorite authors. As a lifelong resident of LA, I can tell she's done her homework on this one. From Hope Street to Chinatown, she has captured the whole stinking, smoggy mess.

I must admit, the plot didn't thrill me at first but Jace, Kev, Tyler,et. al. drew me in with their quirky, fully realized "lives."

Overall an excellent police procedural, a worthy addition to Ms. Hoag's fine bibliography.