The Morning After [Paperback]

Lisa Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2004

A woman is frantic as she awakens in a dark, closed space. From above her comes the muffled sound of cruel laughter, followed by the hard splatter of dirt. Pure terror takes over as she realizes she's being buried alive, and her last breath is a scream that no one but a sadistic killer will hear. To journalist Nikki Gillette, this disturbing story is a ticket out of small - town Savannah and on to the big time. She's already given the killer a nickname - The Grave Robber - and she's spending every minute dogging tough cop Pierce Reed's investigation, trailing him through Savannah's deep thickets and crumbling cemeteries...even though she's starting to wonder about the secrets he's keeping. Another body is found...and another. Each gruesome discovery unnerves Nikki a little more...there's something familiar about it, something she should know. Now, as a serial killer pulls her ever deeper into his sick game, she has no idea how close she's getting to the truth - or how deadly it will be.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Slowly waking from a drugged sleep, a woman realizes she's not in her own bed but in a closed coffin, lying on top of a cold, reeking dead body. Thuds resonate on the lidâ€"dirt and stones being shoveled on topâ€"bringing the sure knowledge she's being buried alive. From this bone-chilling, if melodramatic, opening image, Jackson skillfully crafts a horrific thriller about an elusive serial killer dubbed The Grave Robber. Seeing the high-profile murders as her ticket out of small-town Savannah, ambitious reporter Nikki Gillette latches onto the case and onto lead investigator Pierce Reed. Tough-guy police detective Pierce initially sees Nikki's dogged investigations as a mere irritantâ€"until evidence turns up indicating that the killer may see Nikki as his prey. Meanwhile, tension and unease mount for Nikki as secret ties among the attractive Pierce, whom she may be falling for, the killer and the victims start coming to light. As in Jackson's previous offering, The Night Before, this psychological thriller has a beautifully conceived plot full of unexpected twists and provocative misleads, as well as sophisticated character development. Not even the sadistic murderer is one-dimensionally evil, and the protagonists display delicious depths.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Zebra; First Edition edition (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821772953
• ISBN-13: 978-0821772959
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( J ) > Jackson, Lisa

More About the Author

#1 NYT and USA TODAY bestselling author Lisa Jackson started writing after her sister read an article in TIME Magazine in 1981 about how young mothers were making money writing romance novels. Both Lisa and her sister, Nancy Bush, began their writing careers right then, and lo, these many years later Lisa has published seventy-five plus novels and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Suspense Novel!!!, April 5, 2004

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Morning After (Paperback)

This was truly a strong suspense novel. I realize that it's billed as a "romantic suspense" but trust me there is hardly any romance to be found in these pages so those of you that are scared off by the idea of romance will be safe in picking up this title.

There were a lot of character's but I don't think there were so many that one could not keep track of what was going on. Really I feel that each character did play it's part in the telling of the story.

Someone is going around killing people by burying them alive with a dead corpse. Why? How are they connected? These are the questions that haunt Detective Pierce Reed. From the beginning the killer later dubbed "The Grave Robber" draws Reed into his horrid game. Reed knows the first victim. Now it's a race against the clock to catch this killer before he kills again.

Nikki Gillette is a hard core journalist. She is after the story that will break and at the same time make her career. She has a bad blemish on her record so she has to work twice as hard to prove that she can get the job done. While working on local interest stuff she also works at trying to scoop not only her co-worker but the competition by getting all the information regarding the Grave Robber. Of course she is also in communication with the killer. He has a bone to pick with her as well. Soon this hard core newspaper journalist, and the tough as nails detective find that they have more in common then they thought. A Killer to be exact.

Nikki was an obnoxious character at times and yes, this did get on my nerves after a time. Still the twists and turns that Ms. Jackson took us on was well worth one of her annoying characters. Ms. Jackson is well on her way to becoming a mainstream suspense novelist.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, Suspenseful and Brilliant!, March 21, 2004

By 

Margaret Marr "Published Author" (NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Morning After (Paperback)

Imagine waking in a dark, small space, a peculiar smell in what little air there is to breathe. Imagine something lumpy and soft pressing against the back of your naked body. Imagine clods of dirt raining down on your eternal resting place as cruel laughter floats in the air. Imagine being buried alive.

Nikki Gillette is looking for her breakout story--a story that will propel her out of the small time newspaper she's writing for now. When she gets wind of a serial killer who buries his victims alive, she goes after it like a buzzard on road-kill. Self-centered and self-righteous, she's determined to get the story with very little concern about who she might hurt in the process.

Pierce Reed has secrets he wants kept off the front-pages of the Savannah news, but the pretty journalist, Nikki, is being a royal pain in the rear, especially when she finds out he was involved with one of the victims. He has to deal with a leak in the police department, his foul-mouthed partner with ex-husband problems, and a serial killer who taunts him with letters containing clues to who he is and who the next victim will be.

Nikki and Pierce will have to put aside their contempt for each others choice of careers and work together in order to catch a killer with an agenda to bring about justice in his own twisted mind.

Ms. Jackson's vivid descriptions of places, things and emotions puts you right in the midst of the story. I found myself gasping and on the edge of panic along with the victims. THE MORNING AFTER is a chilling, suspenseful and brilliant tale.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable, March 2, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Morning After (Paperback)

Lumpkin County, North Carolina Sheriff Baldwin calls Savannah cop Pierce Reed to come immediately to a crime scene in a wooded area as his name was found with the deceased. Pierce is shown a coffin containing two bodies and a microphone. Apparently someone Pierce knows Barbara Jean Marx was buried alive with an existing corpse.

Savannah Sentinel reporter Nikki Gillette follows Pierce and his partner Sylvie Morrisette as they try to uncover the identity of a serial killer. The culprit seems to be toying with Pierce as the offender appears to intimately know the cop. As Pierce cannot shake off Nikki, he finds himself falling in love with her, a feeling the journalist reciprocates. Neither one knows the connection Nikki has with the psychopath, but Pierce is willing to risk his life to keep his beloved from being the next person buried alive.

The latest Lisa Jackson's Georgia police procedural romance (see THE NIGHT BEFORE) is a solid terse tale that hooks the audience from the eerie opening scene until the climax. The story line never slows down from the moment Barbara Jean knows she has been buried alive with a dead body until the final confrontation between the heroes and the villain. Though the motive for the homicides seems crazy (than again the killer is crazy), fans will appreciate the lead couple and his partner as the stress on each of them from love and from the murders is palpable. Once again Ms Jackson provides a terse romantic suspense with the accent on thriller.

Harriet Klausner