The Repo: (1 Jack Merchant & Sarah Ballard Novels)

Ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant is living out his precarious retirement on the docks of Charlestown, Mass., surrounded by the revenge-minded dealers and punks he used to put away. All he's got is his sloop, LILA, but soon enough he gets a visit from the repo man. Except the repo man's a woman, Sarah Ballard. Her proposition: they've got a week to track down a rich couple who've disappeared with their yacht. Find it, and Merchant can keep his boat. The trouble is, they're not the only ones looking... A dark tale with enough kinks and twists to keep you guessing to the last page, THE REPO is the first book in a series featuring Jack Merchant and Sarah Ballard."With THE REPO, the debut of his Jack Merchant-Sarah Ballard series, [Eidson] proves high praise is warranted. He writes with appealing aplomb. His dialogue has the ring of overheard conversation, and we feel the breeze and smell the sea air as his characters pursue their prey. And he manages well the stories-within-the-story, as he introduces us, in compelling detail, to Merchant and Ballard, who may need each other more than they know."--The Boston Globe"The partnership and eventual passion between Jack and Sarah, and the boat's disappearance and the demons from the past that possess both detectives merge beautifully, creating a convincing landscape of deception and self-doubt...there is promise here of a fine series to come.--The Washington Post"Eidson quickly puts his own original brand on what looks like the start of a promising series...much of the book's strength comes from the way Eidson makes [Sarah Ballard's] toughness and coldness inevitable and convincing. There are also some unusually interesting minor players and assorted villains, as well as several original and violent moments of action, many at sea."--The Chicago Tribune

About the Author :
Bill Eidson's critically acclaimed thrillers are never too far from the sea, influenced by his growing up and living in New England. From the dive instructor in The Little Brother who slowly discovers his new housemate is a psychopath, to the ex-DEA agent in The Mayday hired to find two children everyone else believes were lost at sea, Eidson's fast-paced novels involve ordinary people who cross courses with the violent among us all. Eidson's books are not only page-turners, but his characters, both the heroic and the vicious, come fully to life. His novels have been favorably reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Herald, the Providence Journal, and Entertainment Weekly, and have received starred reviews in KirkusReviews and Publishers Weekly. He has received praise from authors such as Robert B. Parker and Peter Straub, and he has been compared to Elmore Leonard. The Boston Globe's review of One Bad Thing said, "Eidson writes a tough, direct prose edged with irony, and he may well be a successor, at last, to the much-missed John D. MacDonald." Three of Eidson's books have been optioned for movies and translated for foreign rights. A Kirkus Reviews line about The Mayday sums it up for all of Eidson's work: "Here's crime fiction the way it's supposed to be." To learn more about Bill's freelance writing and his books, go to www.billeidson.com.