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The Player

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
When he hears residents of a Newark neighborhood are getting sick - and even dying - from a strange disease, investigative reporter Carter Ross dives into the story - so deep he comes down with the illness himself. With even more motivation to track down the source of the disease, Carter soon hits upon a nearby construction site. But when the project's developer is found dead, and his mob ties surface, Carter knows he's looking at a story much bigger - and with even more dangerous consequences - than an environmental hazard. Back in the newsroom, Carter has his hands full with his current girlfriend and with the paper's newest eager intern, not to mention his boss and former girlfriend Tina Thompson, who has some news for Carter that's about to make tangling with the mob seem simple by comparison.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 30, 2014
      Verner’s lively narration makes for an entertaining ride for the fifth novel in Parks’s series chronicling the adventures of Newark Star-Ledger reporter Carter Ross. The story centers on a shady urban renewal project plagued by environmental misdeeds and cover-ups, as a sordid family conflict surrounding a recently murdered real estate developer unfolds. Verner brings a compelling first-person voice to the protagonist Ross, who finds himself juggling the caper with the demands of his complicated love life and the stresses of print journalism in an increasingly digital age. Verner’s tone conveys both Ross’s earnest commitment to try to do right by his conflicting obligations and his sometimes bumbling nature. The juicy cast of characters provides Verner with ample opportunities to shine. His turn as the murdered developer’s gruff father—an aging slum lord with a few tricks up his sleeve—is especially memorable. A Minotaur hardcover.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Adam Verner captures the essence of newspaper reporter Carter Ross: slick talking but charmingly dumpy, eager to break the next great story, and willing to compromise in order to do the right thing for the underdog. Ross sniffs a potential story when a tipster calls to complain about residents of an underprivileged neighborhood becoming seriously ill. Verner shines in his restrained portrayal of the sharp African-American young woman who provokes Ross to investigate. Ross suspects an environmental hazard at the adjacent construction site, which may have a mob connection. The weighty aspects of this story about chemically caused disease and local government cover-ups are balanced by Verner's warm delivery of Ross's self-deprecating humor. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 27, 2014
      Carter Ross looks into the outbreak of a debilitating and sometimes fatal illness within a poor neighborhood of Newark, N.J., in Shamus Award–winner Parks’s engaging fifth mystery featuring the investigative newspaper journalist (after 2013’s The Good Cop). Soon Ross comes down with the same illness and suspects an environmental cause. He discovers that a majority of the workers at a shopping center complex breaking ground nearby have exhibited the same brittle bones and flu-like symptoms as local residents. Then the chief developer of the shopping center, Vaughn McAlister, turns up dead—the victim of a baseball bat to the skull. Ross digs into McAlister’s background and churns up a noxious slurry of underhanded political and business collusion, mob links, and personal drama. Meanwhile, Ross juggles stunning news from an old lover and his mother’s well-meaning meddling in his romantic life. Parks smoothly blends grit and wit, though a muddled climax dulls the final punch. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House.

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