Sacrifice [Mass Market Paperback]

Clyde Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 2004

The national bestselling author of Blindsided brings back San Francisco homicide detective Jane Candiotti in her most compelling and suspenseful outing yet.

When San Francisco's most beloved philanthropist is murdered in a downtown hotel, Jane Candiotti gets the high-profile case. That same night a homeless man is found stabbed to death at the docks -- a murder that also lands in Candiotti's hands.

The search for the killers takes Candiotti and her husband, detective Kenny Marks, into two disparate worlds. Soon an eerie intrigue settles over the cases as the detectives discover that the death of someone so privileged strangely intersects with the life of someone so disenfranchised.

As Candiotti struggles to control these two volatile investigations and battles with her superiors, her husband, and her own feelings, she suddenly finds herself fighting for the ultimate prize ... her life.

Shocking and spellbinding, Sacrifice displays the distinctive voice and shattering storytelling power that has made Clyde Phillips's books so popular with fans of high-voltage mystery thrillers.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Phillips's third crime novel (Fall from Grace; Blindsided) featuring diminutive but brassy San Francisco lady cop Jane Candiotti-newly promoted to homicide lieutenant and also newly married to her police sidekick, homicide inspector Kenny Marks-tears up the pages, sirens blaring and lights flashing, at car-chase speed. A billionaire Silicon Valley philanthropist famous for helping needy children is found murdered in a hotel parking garage just after donating $50 million to build a cancer wing on a children's hospital. Scarcely an hour later, a black skid-row bum is found stabbed to death. Jane, under pressure from the billionaire's snooty widow, struggles to give equal attention to both cases. She is further frustrated by the manipulations of an ambitious female underling who resents Jane assigning her to the case of the street bum. Soon, other murders connected to the skid-row stabbing-by an "S" scrawled in blood at the crime scenes-make it obvious that a serial killer is on the loose. As the "S" murders proliferate, anonymous letters arrive linking the two original cases. In an election year, political pressure from the top increases, and the media join the philanthropist's wife, taking up the cry to bring the serial killer to justice. There are few surprises here, but Phillips is a skilled craftsman and follows in the footsteps of Ed McBain with this solid police procedural series.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Newly married and newly promoted, you'd think Lieutenant Jane Candiotti of the San Francisco Police Department should be feeling great. But her marriage partner, Inspector Kenny Marks, is also her work partner, whom she now supervises. The two are still feeling their way around this strange new dynamic when a prominent local philanthropist is murdered, and several less newsworthy citizens are killed in quick succession. Jane struggles to give equal time to all the crimes despite pressure from high places to concentrate on the "important" victim, and she becomes increasingly convinced that the deaths are all connected. An angry, rich widow; an inept new employee; and ongoing friction with the irritable chief add to her problems as the death toll mounts, and the killer starts to strike much too close to home. The plot in Phillips' third Candiotti novel may play a secondary role to Jane's personal and professional challenges, but this is still a solid entry in a popular series. Carrie Bissey
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061032123
• ISBN-13: 978-0061032127
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,562,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting police procedural, June 19, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Sacrifice (Hardcover)

Just after San Francisco's most respected and best-loved citizen, philanthropist Philip Iverson announced the pledge to the children's hospital, someone murders him in the parking garage of the Golden Gate Grand Hotel. The city is in shock with this high visibility homicide. The pressure is on the police for a swift arrest.

Homicide Lieutenant Jane Candiotti and her new husband and "old" partner Kenny Marks lead the investigation, the first since they married and she was promoted to being his boss by the SFPD. That same evening, a second murder occurs that fails to get more than a slight yawn from the media and even less from the politicians and the police leadership. The victim is just a homeless person. However, soon new murders occur tied to the bum's homicide by the letter S written in blood at the scene. With Iverson's wife leading the howls for justice and the media and politicos joining in the screaming, Jane has her hands full struggling to solve the Iverson case as well as the five murders especially when a link between he investigations is found that makes her a target.

This is an exciting police procedural that is typical of the sub-genre, but grips the audience because author Clyde Phillips provides a strong cast working an intriguing investigation. Jane is a delight as the culprit, the media, the brass, Iverson's widow, and members of her team, especially one outraged subordinate and even to a degree Kenny, work against her. Police procedural fans will applaud this solid work.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbound!!!, June 27, 2003

By 

Scott B Marder (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacrifice (Hardcover)

This book is an incredible follow-up in the ever-compelling tale of the bay area's own Jane Candiotti!! Our favorite sleuth IS BACK and can't seem to pull herself away from the mystery and mayhem that surrounds San Francisco. Clyde Phillips does it again with this compelling page-turner where we find Jane embroiled deeper in murder and intrigue as well as her own personal battles. A MUST READ!!!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Clyde Phillips, July 18, 2003

By 

Sharon Galligar Chance (Wichita Falls, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacrifice (Hardcover)

What could a wealthy philanthropist and a skid row bum possibly have in common? Nothing at all other than the fact that they were both killed within minutes of each other in the same area of San Francisco and it looks like the same person is responsible for both of their deaths.

In Clyde Phillip's latest police thriller, "Sacrifice," he treats his readers to another heart-stopping adventure that will keep you planted to your seat until the very last page.

Philip Iverson, San Francisco's favorite son, had just donated millions to his favorite cause and had quite a bit of cash and expensive jewelry on him when he was gunned down in a hotel parking garage. Yet he had not been robbed. Could it be that Iverson might not be the good guy that everyone thought he was, and what was in his past that could provoke someone to kill him?

Willie Temple was a down and out drifter who showed up at big events to panhandle from the rich. He was stabbed to death on a Pier not far from where Iverson was murdered. But symbols and clues left at Temple's death spoke of a different scenario than that of Iverson's. What had Willie Temple seen that he shouldn't have?

Lieutenant Jane Candiotti, head of the SFPD Homicide division and her team, which includes her new husband Inspector Kenny Marks and an enthusiastic but bumbling new detective Linda French, is called in to investigate the crimes.

When other victims start piling up with eerily similar evidence, the mystery deepens. One mystifying clue keeps popping up over and over - the mark of an "S" drawn in the victims' blood appears at each murder. The police fear that there is a serial killer on the loose. It falls upon Jane and her team to pull together the pieces of the puzzle to uncover the plots behind the murders before someone else winds up sacrificed.

Clyde Phillips is a master of storytelling. His years of experience as a television producer and writer serve him well in his role as a novelist. His dialogue is snappy and fast and his stories move with grace and speed. "Sacrifice" is the third in Phillips' "Jane Candiotti" novels (the first two are "Fall From Grace" and "Blindsided"), and they are all equally well-written, high-voltage tales that will leave you breathless and wanting more.

Watch for more of Clyde Phillips' fast-paced, amazing writing skills as he takes the reins of head writer for the highly successful crime NBC crime series "Boomtown" this fall.
As I have said before, "Clyde, write faster!" I can't wait for the next installment of the Jane Candiotti series.

Sharon Galligar Chance
TIMES RECORD NEWS - Wichita Falls, Texas