Think of a Number: A Mystery
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

*Starred Review* NYPD's most celebrated detective, Dave Gurney, has retired to the rural Catskills with his wife, Madeleine. The country was Madeleine's idea, but Dave is missing the animating feature of his adult life: the intellectual problem of understanding serial killers and apprehending them. Then, Mark Mellery, a man he knew in college, shows Dave some bizarre and obliquely threatening messages he has received. Mellery is soon brutally murdered, and Dave becomes a consultant in a case that grows into serial murders. Once again, Dave is driven, but the tectonic plates of his marriage threaten to shift. Verdon's superb debut novel is a riveting thriller with a wonderfully baffling crime. Dave, Madeleine, their marriage, and Mellery are compellingly observed; lesser characters are vividly sketched. The sense of place, whether the Catskills at the onset of winter, or the shabby Bronx, is almost visceral. Police procedures and forensics and the politics of a high-profile crime seem knowing. Think of a Number is a 10, and crime fans of almost every persuasion will love it. An outstanding debut.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2010 Booklist

The numbers game gets a murderous spin in Verdon's deft, literate debut. Recently retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney is an old warhorse much too easily led to water, in the view of his increasingly disenchanted wife, who insists it's now me-time. But it surprises neither of them that Gurney snaps at the lure when a beleaguered friend sets before him a tasty, number-driven puzzle. Mark Mellery has been receiving mysterious mailings that terrify him because he's convinced the author of them can somehow read his mind, and because the mailings threaten his death for crimes he can't recall having committed. Nor is Mellery the only one, it soon become evident, as a particularly malignant serial killer buckles down to business. Ever the puzzle master, Gurney tracks and unravels each clue until-in an attenuated denouement that constitutes one of this thriller's rare self-indulgences-he finally makes the numbers add up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Dave Gurney, a recently retired NYPD homicide detective, finds himself drawn into a weird case involving a college classmate he barely remembers. Mark Mellery, now a New Age guru, has received threatening poems apparently sent by a clairvoyant psycho bent on revenge for an unknown crime. As Gurney works to decipher the poems' clues, the killer strikes. Well known in his time for having tracked down other serial killers, Gurney becomes a consultant to the New York State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation. How could the psycho know ahead of time what number between one and 1000 Mellery and subsequent victims would pick? And why does the killer's hate extend to Gurney and the police? Complicating matters is the strained relationship between Gurney and his wife, who clearly expected more of the husband and less of the detective when the couple retired to rural upstate New York. VERDICT A former Manhattan ad executive, Verdon spins an engrossing web of baffling puzzles. Add these enigmas to the novel's other features-a compellingly introspective protagonist, minutely observed subtleties of character, a strong narrative pull-and you have an outstanding debut, sure to enchant a wide range of readers. [150,000-copy first printing.]-Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

*Starred Review* NYPD's most celebrated detective, Dave Gurney, has retired to the rural Catskills with his wife, Madeleine. The country was Madeleine's idea, but Dave is missing the animating feature of his adult life: the intellectual problem of understanding serial killers and apprehending them. Then, Mark Mellery, a man he knew in college, shows Dave some bizarre and obliquely threatening messages he has received. Mellery is soon brutally murdered, and Dave becomes a consultant in a case that grows into serial murders. Once again, Dave is driven, but the tectonic plates of his marriage threaten to shift. Verdon's superb debut novel is a riveting thriller with a wonderfully baffling crime. Dave, Madeleine, their marriage, and Mellery are compellingly observed; lesser characters are vividly sketched. The sense of place, whether the Catskills at the onset of winter, or the shabby Bronx, is almost visceral. Police procedures and forensics—and the politics of a high-profile crime—seem knowing. Think of a Number is a 10, and crime fans of almost every persuasion will love it. An outstanding debut. Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.

Dave Gurney, a recently retired NYPD homicide detective, finds himself drawn into a weird case involving a college classmate he barely remembers. Mark Mellery, now a New Age guru, has received threatening poems apparently sent by a clairvoyant psycho bent on revenge for an unknown crime. As Gurney works to decipher the poems' clues, the killer strikes. Well known in his time for having tracked down other serial killers, Gurney becomes a consultant to the New York State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation. How could the psycho know ahead of time what number between one and 1000 Mellery and subsequent victims would pick? And why does the killer's hate extend to Gurney and the police? Complicating matters is the strained relationship between Gurney and his wife, who clearly expected more of the husband and less of the detective when the couple retired to rural upstate New York. VERDICT A former Manhattan ad executive, Verdon spins an engrossing web of baffling puzzles. Add these enigmas to the novel's other features-a compellingly introspective protagonist, minutely observed subtleties of character, a strong narrative pull-and you have an outstanding debut, sure to enchant a wide range of readers. [150,000-copy first printing.]-Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

The numbers game gets a murderous spin in Verdon's deft, literate debut. Recently retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney is an old warhorse much too easily led to water, in the view of his increasingly disenchanted wife, who insists it's now me-time. But it surprises neither of them that Gurney snaps at the lure when a beleaguered friend sets before him a tasty, number-driven puzzle. Mark Mellery has been receiving mysterious mailings that terrify him because he's convinced the author of them can somehow read his mind, and because the mailings threaten his death for crimes he can't recall having committed. Nor is Mellery the only one, it soon become evident, as a particularly malignant serial killer buckles down to business. Ever the puzzle master, Gurney tracks and unravels each clue until—in an attenuated denouement that constitutes one of this thriller's rare self-indulgences—he finally makes the numbers add up. (July)