The Mark

May 14, 2007
D
ebut novelist Pinter turns in a stellar performance, taking to the suspense-thriller field with great confidence and greater promise. Disappointed to find that his new job with the prestigious New York Gazette
is all pap pieces and obits, 24-year-old freshman journalist Henry Parker jumps at the chance to work with the paper's top reporter on a where-are-they-now look at “the scum of New York.” Arriving at the apartment of ex-con Luis Guzman with some follow-up questions, Henry finds a scene right out of Goodfellas
: a big guy pistol-whipping a terrified Guzman and his wife. Before Henry knows what's happening, the victims turn the table, the assailant is killed, and Henry is left holding the smoking gun. From there, the cub reporter goes on the run—his only ally an unsuspecting NYU coed—while trying figure out how he became wanted by the NYPD, the FBI and the mob. Though some of his situations can strain credibility, Pinter's a wizard at punching out page-turning action, and the voice of his headstrong protagonist is sure to win readers over; his wild ride should thrill any suspense junky.

Starred review from April 15, 2007
From the opening sentence to the exhilarating conclusion, Pinter's debut thriller gets the reader's heart racing. Taking a dream job as a reporter for a major New York newspaper, Henry Parker plunges into a nightmare when an interview goes wrong and a stranger is killed. On the run from the police, the FBI, and the mob, Parker has gone from uncovering dirt to becoming the story. With nowhere to run or hide and trying to find a package that everyone believes he possesses, can Parker survive long enough to stay off of the obituary page? Pinter clearly reads thrillers, and he is able to use the best aspects of the genre to his advantage. With more Parker novels on the horizon, Pinter is clearly one to watch. For all popular fiction collections.[Pinter is an editor at St. Martin's Press and a founding member of KillerYear; see the Q& A with Pinter in "The Killing Game" on p. 39.Ed.]Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

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