Deadline Man-Jon Talton

Deadline Man
Jon Talton
Poisoned Pen, May 1 2010, $24.95
ISBN 9781590587140

The Seattle Free Press newspaper Columnist meets with an occasional source hedge fund manager Troy Hardesty. After completing the discussion that mentioned something called “Eleven-Eleven, the Columnist leaves. Outside the downtown office building, an explosion occurs as Troy falls 20 stories from the balcony of his office.

At the Free Press, the Columnist learns the paper is near bankruptcy and will either be sold or closed within two months. He is unconcerned though newspaper is his blood. Instead he thinks of his love life until a streetwalker screams at him: “Eleven-eleven.” Another death occurs with the victim having Eleven-eleven etched on his ankle. Soon afterward men claiming to be Feds demand the Columnist tell them what Troy told him. The Columnist and cub reporter Amber Burke investigate Eleven-eleven as a deadline approaches.

The Deadline Man is an exhilarating thriller that grips the audience from the moment Hardesty dives twenty stories and never slows down throughout until the climax. The subplot of a dying newspaper augments the tale with a sense of reality. Well-written, this tense tale will hook fans who, like the reporters, will need to know what is Eleven-eleven.

Harriet Klausner