In Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner's new stand-alone thriller, an injured cop and an ex-thief hunt down a killer nobody else believes exists.
When shots ring out in a crowded Los Angeles club, bartender Harper Flynn watches helplessly as her boyfriend, Drew, is gunned down in the cross fire. Then somebody throws a Molotov cocktail, and the club is quickly engulfed in flames. LA sheriff's deputy Aiden Garrison sees a gunman in a hoodie and gas mask taking aim at Harper, but before he can help her a wall collapses, bringing the building down and badly injuring him.
A year later, Harper is trying to rebuild her life. She has quit her job and gone back to college. Meanwhile, the investigation into the shoot-out has been closed. The two gunmen were killed when the building collapsed.
Certain that a third gunman escaped and is targeting the survivors, Harper enlists the help of Aiden Garrison, the only person willing to listen. But the traumatic brain injury he suffered has cut his career short and left him with Fregoli syndrome, a rare type of face blindness that causes the delusion that random people are actually a single person changing disguises.
As Harper and Aiden delve into the case, Harper realizes that her presence during the attack was no coincidence—and that her only ally is unstable, mistrustful of her, and seeing the same enemy everywhere he looks.
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“A year after Harper Flynn’s boyfriend was murdered when gunmen stormed the nightclub where she worked, Harper is still struggling with survivor’s guilt and lingering questions…She hopes that Aiden Garrison, an LAPD detective who survived the club attack and also spotted a third gunman, will help her cause with police…Harper and Aiden’s alliance is full of heady chemistry, but a layer of mutual distrust lends a suspense-building unpredictability that thriller fans will love.”
— Booklist
“Meg Gardiner’s trademark strengths are working better than ever here—characters as real as your friends, and a plot as real as your nightmares.”
— Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author“Meg Gardiner is one of my favorite authors. She always delivers a terrific read. Phantom Instinct should go to the top of your ‘to be read’ pile.”
— Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author“An act of violence destroys many lives, including bartender Harper Flynn’s and deputy Aiden Garrison’s; the story of the two of them relying on each other and the consequences of this partnership propel a tense narrative…Gardiner brings a fresh style. Terrific characters make this a winner.”
— RT Book Reviews (4 stars)“[Angela Brazil’s] delivery reflects the story’s energetic pace…Her emotional tone and fast pace keep up with the frenetic speed of the story as sadistic thugs close in on Harper and her allies.”
— AudioFile“Alternating third-person points of view help flesh out the characters and keep the suspense high…Readers who enjoy strong heroines and emotionally vulnerable heroes along with nonstop cinematic action will be unable to put this fast-paced, plot-driven thriller down.”
— Library JournalBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of a number of critically acclaimed novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by the Today show and O, the Oprah Magazine. In August 2022 her novel, Heat 2, coauthored with Michael Mann, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. A former lawyer and three-time Jeopardy! champion, Gardiner lives in Austin, Texas.
Angela Brazil is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator and a professional actor who is proud to be a long-standing member of the Resident Acting Company at Trinity Repertory Company. She also teaches at the Brown/Trinity Conservatory.