From the critically acclaimed author of In the Forest of Harm, one of suspense fiction’s most exciting new voices, comes a stunning psychological thriller, a novel of conspiracy and revenge and of a ruthless killer whose shocking reign of terror can be stopped by only one woman.
A Darker Justice
For Assistant District Attorney Mary Crow, the misty mountains of Little Jump Off, North Carolina, still echo with secrets hidden in shallow graves. Now, at the request of the FBI, she is called back from Atlanta to her childhood home for a matter both professional...and deeply personal.
Three federal judges are dead--victims of an assassin so swift and skilled in the deadly arts that the only clue left behind is his trademark black feather. The killer’s last victim was executed in a fashion so brazen, brutal, and horrifying, it even has hardened law enforcement officials rattled. They are desperate to protect the next suspected target-—Judge Irene Hannah-—but the stubborn jurist has adamantly refused federal protection.
It is up to Mary--and tight-lipped, hard-boiled FBI agent Daniel Safer--to protect her old friend and mentor as best they can. But the threat is much closer to home than Mary could ever imagine. When Judge Hannah disappears, Mary must follow her on a terrifying chase through the Carolina wilderness she knows and loves.
Deep within the beautiful and treacherous forest, a rogue killer and his army of “soldiers” are waiting. Soon Mary will have to confront a battle for survival in a place where there is no law and no mercy...only a darker justice.
Sallie Bissell is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. She currently divides her time between her hometown and Asheville, North Carolina. She is at work on her third novel of suspense.
“Bissell's narrative drive should carry readers right along.”
— Publishers Weekly
Praise for Sallie Bissell’s In the Forest of Harm:
“In the mode of Patricia Cornwell ... Bissell masterfully drives the plot with ... gut-wrenching suspense.”
— The Asheville Citizen-Times
“A top-notch thriller.”
— People
“Astonishes and impresses through complexity of characters, credibility of plot, and terrifying sense of menace.... [Bissell is] a writer who makes no compromises with reality and constructs a story of unrelenting excitement.”
— Baton Rouge Magazine
“A nail-biting novel of psychological terror, survival, and loyalty and friendship.”
— The Purloined Letter
“Hair-raising ... harrowing.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Bissell tightens the screws slowly and expertly.... A shrewdly imagined female actioner, tailor-made for audiences who would’ve loved Deliverance if it hadn’t been for all that guy stuff.”
— Kirkus Reviews