Jonathan Stride Books

In a riveting debut thriller that has drawn comparisons to masters of the genre like Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, Brian Freeman weaves obsession, sex, and revenge into a story that grips the reader with vivid characters and shocking plot twists from the first page to the last. Lieutenant Jonathan Stride is suffering from an ugly case of déjà vu . For the second time in a year, a beautiful teenage girl has disappeared off the streets of Duluth, Minnesota--gone without a trace, like a bitter gust off Lake Superior. The two victims couldn't be more different. First it was Kerry McGrath, bubbly, sweet sixteen. And now Rachel Deese, strange, sexually charged, a wild child. The media hounds Stride to catch a serial killer, and as the search carries him from the icy stillness of the northern woods to the erotic heat of Las Vegas, he must decide which facts are real and which are illusions. And Stride finds his own life changed forever by the secrets he uncovers. Secrets that stretch across time in a web of lies, death, and illicit desire. Secrets that are chillingly…immoral. Immoral is a 2006 Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel.

This ambitious follow-up to Brian Freeman's debut novel, Immoral , which Michael Connelly called "a page-turner of the highest caliber," delivers non-stop action and gut-wrenching intrigue on the streets of Sin City-- where you can hit the jackpot, or you can get… STRIPPED They looked like isolated cases: a hit-and-run and a celebrity murdered during a fling with a prostitute. No one could ever imagine they'd be linked to a brutal crime in the city's steamy past…and that the race to corner a determined serial killer would stir up secrets long thought buried with the dead. When detectives--and lovers--Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial are called to investigate, they have no idea that they're stepping into a world of sex and money, glamour and vice--where desperate ambition rules and loyalties know no bounds…

In Brian Freeman's thrilling novel Stalked , Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows his partner Maggie Bei is in trouble when she reports a deadly crime on a bitter winter night. She's obviously hiding a terrible secret, and her silence only feeds suspicion. Maggie isn't the only one keeping secrets in Duluth. A seductive young woman has disappeared, leaving behind a stash of lurid fantasies and a cryptic message: I know who it is. Following a twisted trail, Stride uncovers a sordid web of violence and voyeurism that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden. Stride isn't alone. His lover Serena Dial – a homicide cop turned private investigator – is chasing a blackmailer who knows all the city's dirty secrets. Even Maggie's. But as Stride and Serena hunt for a killer, a predator with a vicious past is hunting them – with a terrifying plan for revenge. Now every step they take to expose the truth brings them closer to a showdown amid the howling winds of a winter storm. Where survival in the blinding snow is measured in seconds. Where crimes can be buried forever.

Two young lovers. A sultry summer night. One brutal, cold-blooded murder. In this stunning, atmospheric thriller, In the Dark , Brian Freeman takes you deep into Detective Jonathan Stride's complicated past. It's the case that has haunted Stride for thirty years. During the summer after his junior year of high school, he fell in love with beautiful Cindy Starr, the girl who would become his wife. But on the Fourth of July, the same night that Jonny and Cindy cemented their love, Cindy's older sister Laura was savagely murdered. The police suspected a vagrant of committing the crime, but no one was ever arrested, and the case was closed. Now, Laura's best friend Tish Verdure has returned to Duluth to write a book about Laura's death. Tish knows secrets that a lot of people would like to keep hidden, including information about Cindy that leave Stride questioning his entire past. When a young girl is found drowned in the St. Louis River and a witness to the original murder attempts suicide, Stride realizes that the violence of the past is spilling over into the present. As he unearths the explosive events that led to Laura's murder, Stride discovers that the ripples of her death changed everyone's lives, including his own. Can Stride put to rest the ghosts of his past, or will they devour him whole?

Sm Quarto, , PP.420, Suspense DoesnÕt Get More Excruciating Than This; Inscribed And Signed By The Author

A GRIPPING NOVELLA FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR BRIAN FREEMAN 'This man can tell a story' MICHAEL CONNELLY 'Page-turning psychological suspense' JEFFERY DEAVER In this edge-of-your-seat ebook novella - a prelude to The Cold Nowhere - the Duluth Detective makes a fly-by visit to his mother's resting place, only to become caught up in the apparent suicide of one of the town's policeman.

Detective Jonathan Stride's first wife, Cindy, died of cancer eight years ago, but her ghost hangs over Stride's relationship with current lover, and fellow detective, Serena Dial. When Serena witnesses a brutal murder outside a Duluth bar, she stumbles onto a case with roots that go all the way back to the last year of Cindy Stride's life. At the time, Cindy and Stride were on opposite sides of a domestic murder investigation. Gorgeous, brilliant Janine Snow--a surgeon transplanted to Duluth from Texas--was the prime suspect in the shooting death of her husband. Cindy believed her friend Janine was innocent, but Stride thought all the evidence pointed to the surgeon--even though the gun was never found. Despite Cindy's attempts to help Janine, the case led to a high-profile murder trial in which Janine was convicted and sent to prison. During the current investigation, Serena finds a gun used in the murder of a woman connected to an organized crime syndicate--a gun that turns out to be the same weapon used to kill Janine Snow's husband. Two unrelated cases years apart suddenly have a mysterious connection. As Stride investigates the possibility that human traffickers are targeting women in the Duluth port, he begins to question whether he made a terrible mistake eight years ago by putting an innocent woman in prison. And whether he will ever be able to make peace with the memory of his beloved wife and give his heart to Serena.

"PROPULSIVE . . . THIS THRILLER RACES TO A BREATHLESS FINISH." -- MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE "A TAUT, FINELY CRAFTED PAGE-TURNER . . . THE PLOT IS TORN RIGHT FROM OUR HEADLINES." --5-STAR READER REVIEW "GRIPPING . . . A FAST, COMPELLING READ." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY In a powerfully compelling thriller that strikes at the heart of our current fears as a nation, Detective Jonathan Stride must investigate a marathon bombing in his city--before more people get hurt. On a rainy June morning, tens of thousands of people line the streets of Duluth while exhausted runners push to reach the finish line at the city's biggest annual event. Then, in a terrifying echo of the Boston bombing, there is an explosion along the race course, leaving many people dead and injured. Within minutes, Jonathan Stride, Serena Dial, and Maggie Bei are at work with the FBI to find the terrorists behind the tragedy. As social media feeds a flood of rumors and misinformation, one young man becomes the most wanted person in the city. And the manhunt is on. But are the answers behind the Duluth bombing more complex than anyone realizes? And can Stride, Serena, and Maggie find the truth before more innocent people are killed?

In the latest thriller from #1 bestselling author Brian Freeman, Detective Jonathan Stride must face a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to protect his reputation. "Freeman is an excellent writer and he's only getting better and better as time goes by. If you're not on the Freeman train yet, all aboard!" --5-star reader review "Excellent . . . A winner." -- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "If not the best Jonathan Stride novel, it's right up there with them." --5-star reader review When a freak auto accident kills a driver carrying false identification on the remote roads outside Duluth, Jonathan Stride is disturbed to find a gun in the trunk--and the gun has recently been fired. The next day, a Duluth college student has also vanished, and Stride worries they're connected--but what would have put an ordinary young woman in the crosshairs of a man who has all the hallmarks of an assassin for hire? Stride's investigation leads him to a film crew in Duluth, where a movie is being made based on a case in Stride's own past. The actor playing Stride is Hollywood royalty, an award-winning icon who has charmed his way to the top of the box office. But Stride soon hears whispers that his cinematic alter ego has a dark side . . .

"You're safe, Stride. I found the body at the Deeps. I buried him." Jonathan Stride's best friend, Steve Garske, makes a shocking deathbed confession: he protected Stride by covering up a murder. Hours later, the police dig up Steve's yard and find a body with a bullet hole in its skull. Stride is pretty sure he knows who it is. Seven years ago, an out-of-town reporter disappeared while investigating anonymous allegations of rape against a prominent politician. Back then, the police believed that the reporter drowned at a dangerous swimming hole called the Deeps... but the discovery of the body changes everything. Now Stride's partner, Maggie Bei, is forced to ask Stride an uncomfortable question: Did you kill him? Stride is obviously hiding things. He was the last person to see the reporter alive. And he admits lying to Maggie about that meeting, but won't tell her why. With suspicion in the murder pointing at him, Stride finds himself off the case and on leave from the Duluth Police. His only ally in clearing his name is his wife, Serena, who retraces the reporter's investigation into the explosive allegations. The clues all point to a hot Duluth summer years earlier that everyone in town would prefer to forget. Someone was willing to kill rather than let those long-ago secrets come out, and the suspect with the strongest motive ... is Stride.

"Freeman's Bourne novels might get more publicity, but his Stride novels are where his skills as a storyteller are really showcased. First-rate." -- Booklist A woman has been kidnapped. Now Jonathan Stride must decide if her husband wants her back ... dead or alive. After nearly dying of a gunshot wound, Jonathan Stride has been on leave from the Duluth Police for more than a year. When his partner, Maggie Bei, gets called about a suspicious abduction involving a local lawyer, she tells Stride it's time for him to come back. Attorney Gavin Webster says he paid $100,000 in ransom money to the men who kidnapped his wife. Now they've disappeared with the cash, and she's still missing. Gavin claims to be desperate to find her--but Stride discovers that the lawyer had plenty of motive to be the mastermind behind the crime. Even as Stride digs for the truth about Gavin Webster and his wife, he must also deal with a crisis in his own marriage. His wife, Serena, is struggling after the death of her mother, the abusive woman she hadn't seen in twenty-five years. When she loses control at a crime scene and draws her gun on a fellow cop, Serena finds herself kicked off the Webster case. Alone at her desk, she begins hunting through old police files and starts to ask questions about a mother's death that was written off as suicide. That death haunts Serena like an echo of her own childhood--but her obsession with it takes a terrible toll. As Serena shuts him out of her despair, and his own investigation grows increasingly tangled, Stride wonders whether going back to his detective work was the right decision. But all he can do is keep moving forward. Because Stride fears the Webster kidnapping may be only one part of a horrific murder conspiracy. And it's not over yet.