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Summary
Summary
"A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff's detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and back alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn't deserve to have a future. But the past is about to come back with a vengeance, and the future is about to become a race between life and death." "A young woman is missing and her twelve-year-old stepsister comes to Estes for help. No one but serious, studious Molly Seabright seems concerned about what's happened to her troubled older sister. But Molly is convinced Erin is in danger. Estes has no P.I. license, no interest in a new career, and no desire to break her self-imposed exile. But the more she learns about the people Erin Seabright was involved with, the more her long-dormant cop instincts come back to life." "One trip to the show grounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the glittering, ultrarich facade is an ultraruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. A world of dissolute playboys and crooked horse-dealers, of royalty and rabble, of rivals and enemies. An obscenely wealthy world where anything can be had for a price - including a life." "And in that world stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a dark, twisted trail of decadence and deceit, mayhem and murder - from the gilded life of Palm Beach to the darkest corners of the Florida swamps, to a final showdown that could cost her everything. A race against time and evil. A race in which Estes is the dark horse...and no one is betting on her to win."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author Notes
Tami Hoag was born on January 20, 1959, in Cresco, Iowa. Her first novel, The Trouble with J. J., was published in 1988. Her other works include Night Sins, Guilty as Sin, The Alibi Man, Prior Bad Acts, Dark Horse, Kill the Messenger, Deeper Than the Dead, Secrets to the Grave, Down the Darkest Road, Cold Cold Heart, the Bitter Season, and The Boy. She is a past recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the Romantic Times.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The professional horse world, as seen through Hoag's eyes, is full of intrigue, glitter and skullduggery. Elena Estes is a former cop whose bravado on the force resulted in a colleague's death; it also cost her her job and her self-esteem, not to mention the psychological and physical fallout from nearly being shot. She's been keeping a low profile at a friend's Florida ranch, but her world is disrupted when 12-year-old Molly Seabright, wise beyond her years, attempts to hire Elena to find her older sister, Erin, who has been missing for two days. As Elena digs deeper into Erin's disappearance, the dark side of the horse-show set is revealed. Hoag (Night Sins; Dust to Dust), herself an experienced equestrian, shows off her dressage-to-showing knowledge of the sport as she weaves behind-the-scenes tidbits about the training, competitions, horse brokers and grooms into a plot that gallops along. Though she is a master of suspense, the story falters when a major secret about the kidnapping is exposed. There are too many bad guys who may be in on the scheme, and readers will feel cheated by the improbable 11th-hour revelation. It's too bad Hoag felt the need to undercut her plot with schemes and counterschemes, since she finds plenty of tension in the equestrian world she examines here and doesn't need the contrivance. Nonetheless, she has enough skill and drawing power to propel this, her 10th book, onto bestseller lists. Major ad/promo. (Aug. 27) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Welcome to the dark psyche of Elena Estes, a woman who had everything that society has to offer but gave it away to become a cop, and now even that life is lost. She made a mistake during a drug bust, an officer died, and she was badly hurt. Now she's a pariah in the Palm Beach sheriff's office. She retreats to the farm of an old friend, and returns to her childhood love of horse, while she recovers physically if not emotionally. Twelve-year-old Molly Seabright brings Elena back to the world of the living by asking her to find her missing 18-year-old sister, Erin, who works as a groom. Neither the police nor her parents believe anything is wrong, but Molly is persistent. Elena agrees to investigate and soon lands knee-deep in the muck of the horse world, where she finds horses murdered for insurance money, sleazy dealers, debauched playboys, charismatic trainers, and one infuriating cop. A tangled web of deceit and double-dealing makes for a fascinating look into the wealthy world of horses juxtaposed with the realistic introspection of one very troubled ex-cop. A definite winner for Hoag. --Patty Engelmann
Library Journal Review
Elaina Estes, dark horse, ex-cop, loose cannon, and refugee from the high society of South Florida, hovers on the brink of suicide, waiting for a reason to live. That reason appears in the guise of Molly Seebright, a very adult 12-year-old whose older sister Erin is missing. Elaina is drawn into the case in spite of herself and despite the lack of interest from Molly's parents and the local sheriff's office. Elaina uncovers a snake pit of treachery, greed, and murder involving the Palm Beach horse set and the people who serve them. By immersing herself in the case and risking her life for Molly, Elaina redeems herself in her own eyes and begins to think about her future. With a reading by Beth McDonald, Hoag's story is complex and dark, full of counterplots and red herrings. Her depiction of depravity and evil as human norms is disturbing, allowing small hope that the dark horse, the underdog representing goodness and sanity, can prevail. Recommended.-Joanna M. Burk-hardt, Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Providence (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.