Rough Draft - Hardcover

Praise for James Hall from fellow authors:

‘James Hall is a writer I have learned from over the years. His people and places have more brush strokes than a van Gogh. He delivers taut and muscular stories about a place where evil always lurks below the surface.’
MICHAEL CONNELLY

‘Like top-drawer Leonard turned inside out – smart, observant, richly grotesque.’
JAMES ELLROY

‘Hall’s writing is astringent, penetrating and unfailingly gripping long after you read the last page... The story and the characters crackle like lingering currents of electricity in your mind.’
DEAN KOONTZ

‘Highly original and entertaining.’
ELMORE LEONARD

‘A masterful writer.’
JAMES PATTERSON

The electrifying new noir thriller from the highly acclaimed author of Body Language, hailed by James Ellroy as ‘the master’.

‘James Hall is the master of suspense... his writing runs as clear and fast as the Gulf Stream waters.’ New York Times Book Review

For Hannah Keller, J.J. Fielding is an obsession. As a Miami police detective Hannah had been closing in on the crooked banker, only to see him slip through her fingers, taking with him a fortune in cash belonging to the Cali drug cartel. Then she had gone to pick up her young son and found her parents brutally murdered – and Fielding’s photograph left on the scene. Despite Hannah’s efforts, Fielding was never found and the case was never solved. Now, two years later, Hannah has retired from the force and built a new career as a successful mystery writer – yet she remains convinced of Fielding’s guilt.

The FBI never shared her conviction, but they remember her obsession as they step up the hunt for Hal Bonner, the Cali cartel’s most feared assassin. For ten years the psychopathic Bonner has evaded capture, but now the FBI have hit upon a scheme to use Hannah as bait to flush him out. If Bonner can be persuaded that Hannah is back on the trail of Fielding, they believe he will come out of hiding and let her lead him to the man who stole his employers’ millions. To draw Hannah in, they set out a series of false clues, including a mysteriously annotated copy of her first novel that seems to point to Fielding’s whereabouts, then sit back and wait. But the plan goes disastrously wrong and soon Hannah and her son are running for their lives.