Pieces of Sand [Paperback]

Mel Savoie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

The South Philadelphia kidnapper leaves no witnesses or clues. The only evidence is the absence of each victim--all of them young upwardly mobile businessmen.

And the stakes just got higher. One of the Homicide Department's top detectives has just suffered a heart attack during a failed decoy operation and the kidnapper has uncannily kidnapped the officer's partner. Suddenly the hunters have become the hunted.

West Palm Beach Deputy Sheriff Charley Banyon is drawn to Philadelphia and the criminal dubbed "the Stealth Stalker." When yet another ghost-like kidnapping undermines Banyon's intention to implement specialized intelligence techniques, both the Mayor and Governor issue an ultimatum. Banyon has one week.

What follows is a hectic conflict between a unique investigator of forensic evidence and a singularly unique villain. This is as fast-paced as life and death gets, and culminates in a deadly minute-by-minute finale. You might even run out of breath before you can finish this one!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Unlike many of the mainstream espionage/crime and thriller authors, Mel Savoie does not seek out and interview military veterans, investigators or intelligence officers experienced in foreign countries. For that sort of insider information Savoie need look no further than his own mirror.

A twenty-year Air Force veteran, Savoie served in the United States, North Africa and Korea. As an officer in the USAF Office of Special Investigations, he was a Special Agent conducting criminal, counterintelligence, and security investigations at home and abroad. In his capacity as a Special Agent, Savoie has written and edited literally hundreds of investigative reports and biographical sketches as well as contributed his expertise to numerous USAF publications.

His experience extends well beyond military service. Following his retirement from the Air Force, he was appointed as Chief of Security for the DC Public Library System and advanced to Security Chief for the Federal Reserve in DC.

Holding a B.A. with honors from the University of Maryland, he is married and the father of two sons. Savoie now resides in central Florida from where he calls upon his own insider information while writing novels like "The Pracktl Affair," "Pieces of Sand" and "Nobody Goes to the Moon Anymore."

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Lighthouse Pr Inc (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932211039
• ISBN-13: 978-1932211030
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,015,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars PIECES OF SAND, February 6, 2003

By 

Susan Hartigan (Riverside, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pieces of Sand (Paperback)

This book-reviewing thing is getting more, and more difficult. Not because the reading is hard to do....that is a pleasure...but how does one put into words just how great, and wonderful a book is? Words just seem so insignificant after reading something as riveting as PIECES OF SAND. But somehow I will try, as I want everyone to know about this book.

When Mr. Savoie asked me if I would like to read a book he had written about a "seriously deranged serial killer", I laughed and told him that I had always felt any serial killer would be considered deranged. Little did I know!

I do have one warning; it would be to your advantage to stay away from South Seventh Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Especially if you are a young business man who happens to carry a brief case. It seems that such young men are disappearing. Disappearing, literally right in front of people's eyes. And there are no clues as to where they are going, or what is happening to them. But whatever is happening to them cannot be good.

In South Florida, Sheriff's Detective Charley Banyon has set up a special investigative unit that is making catching criminals a lot easier. He has four first year rookies to train in this new approach to policing, and they aren't so sure that they like the idea.

A short time earlier Charley had met a wonderful woman. He had been in a boat on Lake Okeechobee, when a violent storm suddenly came up. June Ibson's kids found him on the shore of the lake. He was more dead than alive. After Charley recovered from his wounds, he wanted to thank the children for saving his life. It was then that he met their mother, June. Maybe it wasn't love at first sight, but it was close enough for Charley and June.

Soon after Charley and June met, June received a phone call from her father in Philadelphia saying that her mother was dying, and that her sister's husband had come up missing. Jack Donlan was closing an insurance deal on The Seventh when he disappeared. The police won't help, as there is no evidence of foul play. June doesn't want to leave Charley behind in Florida, especially since they are just beginning to know one another, but she has to go to Philadelphia to be with her mother, and try and help her sister, and father.

In Camden, New Jersey, another young man is just starting to make a life for himself in the diamond business. Johnny Nelson is working his way up in the company, and likes the work he is doing. Although at times thoughts of getting rich quick go through his mind, he never follows through on any of them.

Mr. Savoie has brought together characters from different parts of the country, from different backgrounds, and with different interests into a mind-blowing story that you cannot stop reading. PIECES OF SAND is a skillfully written and compelling story. His characters are living, breathing, people whom you just have to know more about.

When I read Mr. Savoie's first book The Pracktl Affair, I honestly thought that he could never top himself, as it was such a great book. But he has outdone himself with PIECES OF SAND.

PIECES OF SAND is a psychological thriller that draws the reader into the dark and evil mind of a serial killer. A serial killer who perhaps is justified in feeling the way that he does, or perhaps is so sick that he can't control what he does, or perhaps just plain evil. You make up your own mind on that one, but believe me which ever way you go, you aren't going to forget him for a very long time. The story is spell binding and totally captivating.

PIECES OF SAND is destined to make it to the top. This story is so well written, and so well thought out that it cannot do anything other than that. Mel Savoie has a very, very bright future for himself in the world of best sellers. I certainly hope that he presents us with a lot more of his work. He definitely is first class, and I absolutely want to read more, and more, of his work. You will too. Especially after reading PIECES OF SAND.