Exile » (Reprint)

ALLAN FOLSOM is the New York Times bestselling author of The Day After Tomorrow and The Day of Confession. He lives in California.

John Barron, the youngest cop on the LAPD's elite 5-2 squad, gets a baptism of blood and fire as he encounters the most haunting case and villains he's ever faced. Trapped in a web of global intrigue, Barron and his sister, Rebecca, are swept across oceans and continents, from California to England to Russia, by a sinister hit man playing out his role in a shocking conspiracy that threatens institutions of power worldwide. Barron will find that this conspiracy is centuries old and its orchestrators will stop at nothing to see this dark vision through, a dream destined to topple governments, dethrone dynasties, and catapult one family to the pinnacle of global power.

Publishers Weekly

Folsom (The Day After Tomorrow) begins his epic-sized new thriller smashingly, as cops from an elite LAPD squad stake out a train to arrest a killer and find themselves up against the mysterious Raymond, who leads them a murderous dance through the streets of the city, massacres several of them and is then apparently killed himself in a climactic shootout. For its first 200 pages, this is high-octane thriller writing with an almost visceral impact. But already there are dark hints of plot troubles to come. Young up-and-coming cop John Barron, Raymond's nemesis, is found to have a beautiful sister mentally paralyzed by the shock of their parents' long-ago murder, and Raymond begins to receive mysterious phone calls from a sinister baroness talking about his destiny. These kitschy elements dominate the story as it moves over to Europe, Barron builds himself a new life in England with a sexy aristocrat, sister Rebecca emerges from her cocoon as a Princess Di-like figure and the murderous Raymond, now with a new identity, has a key role involving a major upheaval in world politics. Folsom still brings off some entertaining scenes, but the plot becomes so lumbering and improbable (wait till you find out who Rebecca's suave Latin lover is) that even a final burst of action at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg cannot bring back the excitement that launched the book. As for the utterly unprepared-for ending, it breaks at least a dozen popular fiction rules at once. Agent, Robert Gottlieb. (Aug. 17) Forecast: If only Folsom could've maintained the pace and drama of the book's first third, this would be a winner; as it is, word of mouth about the remainder of the overlong novel is likely to dampen reader enthusiasm. $250,000 marketing campaign. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.