List $29.95

Written by Chuck Hogan - audio book performed by John Slattery - Abridged Nonfiction - 5 COMPACT DISCS - 6 hours

Publisher, Simon & Schuster Audioworks (January 2007)

Listen to an audio clip

The crack of a handgun shatters the silence of a warm summer night.... A notorious local felon and former child magician vanishes, seemingly without a trace.... A corrupt police force applies a stranglehold to a failing town.... An ailing old man hatches a last-ditch plan to save the police department he once headed, and the community he still loves.... An outsider arrives, bearing a simple recipe for death that could destroy them all....

The town of Black Falls isn't dying so much as it is quietly fading away. No supermarket. No traffic lights. No hope. Donald Maddox has returned to his hometown after fifteen years, a man with no law-enforcement background -- indeed, no background at all -- who finds himself employed as an auxiliary patrolman on a local police force known to inspire more fear than trust in its citizenry. But when a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this forgotten place, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide. As the tightly-wound mystery that is Maddox's past begins to unravel, he finds himself ensnared in a deadly conspiracy that ultimately threatens his life, as well as the lives of those nearest him.

About the Author: Chuck Hogan's first novel, The Standoff, was translated into fourteen languages and adapted for film. His second, The Blood Artists, was called "sensational" and "masterfully suspenseful" by Kirkus Reviews and a "quantum leap" by the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Massachusetts and is at work on a new novel.

About the Performer: Donnie Wahlberg Boston native, has starred on television in the hit drama series Boomtown and was featured in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. His films include Dreamcatcher, The Sixth Sense, Ransom, Bullet, and the independent film, Southie. As a teenager, he was a member of the pop music sensation, New Kids On The Block.

About the Performer: John Slattery has starred on Broadway in Rabbit Hole, Betrayal, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Off-Broadway credits include Three Days of Rain (L.A. Critics Award, Drama Desk nom.), and The Lisbon Traviata. On television he has been seen in Ed, K Street, Sex & the City, and Will & Grace. Films include Flags of Our Fathers, Mona Lisa Smile, The Station Agent, Traffic, and Sleepers.