Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings #5

 

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

This week's selection:

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

Beginning:

Prologue

It had all gotten a little blurry for Amanda, behind the wheel of her beat-up, eight-year-old Mazda:

Her recollection of what she'd been doing only twenty minutes before.  Katy Perry's voice on the car radio: "I kissed a girl . . ."

The road.

She zipped in front of a yellow school bus crawling along ahead of her, the realization beginning to settle in that this wasn't the right way.

Immediately I want to know: Who is Amanda?  She sounds down on her luck and like she is headed for trouble. 

As part of my summer reading, I always like to include at least one suspenseful novel.  I received a copy of this particular book at BEA back in June, where the author was signing the paperback version in the Mystery Writers of America booth.  

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Page 56:  "Suddenly my eyes tripled in size.  The window had a decal on it - an image I was sure I had seen before. What the hell is happening, Henry . . .? "

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Overview from barnesandnoble.com: 

15 seconds can tear your life apart . . .

Henry Steadman didn't know what was about to hit him when he pulled up to a red light. A successful Florida plastic surgeon, he is in town to deliver a keynote address at a conference when suddenly his life becomes an unrelenting chase to stay alive.

Stopped by the police for a minor traffic violation, the situation escalates and he is pulled from his vehicle, handcuffed and told he is under arrest. Several other police cars arrive and the questioning turns scary, but just as Henry is released and about to move on, a blue sedan pulls up and the officer is suddenly killed. As the car speeds away, there is only one suspect left behind–Henry. In that moment, his idyllic life becomes a free fall into hell as he becomes the target of a police manhunt, as well as being pursued by a cunning, unnamed perpetrator bent on some kind of vengeance.

When Henry turns to a close friend for help, and he, too, ends up dead, Henry realizes he's being elaborately framed. But in a chilling twist, the stakes grow even darker, and he is unable to go to the police to clear his name, without bringing on dire and deadly consequences.

With breakneck pacing and nonstop action, 15 Seconds shows what can happen when even the best life is turned upside down in an instant. It is also the story of an innocent man, framed for murder, who has to save the person he loves the most, all while being drawn closer and closer to an inevitable face-to-face standoff with a man determined to destroy his life.

  

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine
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Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings #5 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.