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Known Dead: A Novel (Carl Houseman) Mass Market Paperback – May 2, 2000
The ambush exploded in an Iowa marijuana field. The weapons were high caliber. The pot was high grade. And the reporters said afterward: "We have two known dead...."
Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman knew the dead all right: One was a small-time doper, the other a good cop. But Houseman doesn't know why they died, or who cut them down in a blaze of automatic rifle fire. Now, as the Feds descend on Nation County, Houseman and his fellow cops are suddenly walking point--searching for answers amidst the violence, treachery, and evil in their own backyard....
Donald Harstad's Eleven Days was called "a hell of a first novel" by Michael Connelly and "truly frightening" by the San Francisco Chronicle. In his electrifying new novel Harstad captures with nerve-shattering power an Iowa police department's harrowing search through a killing storm--to know the truth about the dead and the living alike....
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBantam
- Publication dateMay 2, 2000
- Dimensions4 x 0.75 x 7 inches
- ISBN-100553580957
- ISBN-13978-0553580952
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Editorial Reviews
Review
--The New York Times Book Review
"Instantly propels him into the top ranks of mystery writers."
--Booklist
"A complicated little conundrum of a plot that keeps Houseman, the Feds, and the reader guessing all the way through....An author who knows his territory."
--The New York Times
"Hardcore procedural fans will find Carl's second case authentically...realistic."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Harstad...advances the scary (and perversely entertaining) notion that people are just as cuckoo in the heartland as they are in the wicked city."
--The New York Times Book Review
Don't miss Donald Harstad's mesmerizing debut Eleven Days:
"A hell of a first novel...Gripping and unsettling."
--Michael Connelly
And coming soon in hardcover from Doubleday:
The Big Thaw
From the Inside Flap
The ambush exploded in an Iowa marijuana field. The weapons were high caliber. The pot was high grade. And the reporters said afterward: "We have two known dead...."
Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman knew the dead all right: One was a small-time doper, the other a good cop. But Houseman doesn't know why they died, or who cut them down in a blaze of automatic rifle fire. Now, as the Feds descend on Nation County, Houseman and his fellow cops are suddenly walking point--searching for answers amidst the violence, treachery, and evil in their own backyard....
Donald Harstad's Eleven Days was called "a hell of a first novel" by Michael Connelly and "truly frightening" by the "San Francisco Chronicle. In his electrifying new novel Harstad captures with nerve-shattering power an Iowa police department's harrowing search through a killing storm--to know the truth about the dead and the living alike....
From the Back Cover
Donald Harstad's Eleven Days was called "a hell of a first novel" by Michael Connelly and "truly frightening" by the San Francisco Chronicle. In his electrifying new novel Harstad captures with nerve-shattering power an Iowa police department's harrowing search through a killing storm -- to know the truth about the dead and the living alike....
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
It all started for me on June 19, 1996, about 1500 hours. I had pretty much assigned myself as pickup car for a team of two officers who were conducting surveillance on a cultivated marijuana patch we'd located in Basil State Park. Basil's a large park, about twenty-five square miles, in steep hills, and just about completely covered with thick woods.
At 0458, Special Agent Bill Kellerman, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and our Deputy Ken Johansen had been inserted into the park, being dropped off by one of the night cars. The patch itself was located some distance from the road, in a little valley. I'd never been there, but I knew the general location. I'd done surveillance on patches in the past, and was very glad not to have to do this one. It was hot, it was dull, andit was seldom successful. Bill and Ken were good officers, although they both had only a couple of years dope experience, and were pretty anxious to bust this patch. The cultivated area had been observed during a fly-over by a Huey helicopter provided by the Iowa National Guard, under a marijuana eradication program. Ken had been in the chopper when they first discovered the patch wedged in a deep valley, and reported the event to Bill, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement agent assigned to work undercover in the area. They'd gone in, discovered over a hundred plants, and decided to go for the bust.
The whole purpose of the exercise was to lie in wait and catch the owner of the patch as he or she came into the area to water and tend the plants. We had no idea who that was, though there was some speculation.
I'd picked a hilltop location for my car, about a mile and a half from the two officers in the patch. I couldn't see them, but I could see a large chunk of the park, and the height of my location would ensure that I could receive their walkie-talkie transmissions in the hilly terrain. I'd gone up a long farm lane to an abandoned barn and parked in the bit of shade the barn offered. It was a slow day, and I had gotten into position early. Been there for over an hour, in fact. Quality time. It was ninety-four degrees, and the humidity was about 95 percent. I'd turned off the engine, and air conditioner, so I would make less noise, and sat there trying to use thread to rig a spar for a ship model I was building. I'd given up smoking, and was wishing I hadn't. I had started sweating, and was wishing I hadn't too. I'd opened one of four cans of soda pop I'd brought with me, in a small ice-filled cooler. One for each of us when I picked them up. And a spare for now. I had the driver's door propped open, hoping for a little air. Not even a hint of a breeze. And they shouldn't be ready for pickup for a good half hour yet. I started the first knot in the thread that attached the stuns'l boom to the spar.
I heard a faint pop, then another. Then a whole lot of popping noises, almost like an old lawn mower. I put down the spar, and looked over toward the valley where the patch was. It was very quiet. The slight haze caused the distant features to dance. I checked both sides of the thin ribbon of graveled road that wound toward the pickup point, but I couldn't pin down where the sounds had come from. There were lots of farms surrounding the park, and I thought it was probably a tractor. I was just starting to pick up my spar, when the popping began again. A lot of it. I dropped the spar, and got out and stood alongside my car. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It got very quiet again.
"MAITLAND, FOUR!" my car radio blared, and nearly scared me to death.
No answer. Dispatch probably hadn't heard him, down in his tree-filled hole. Four was the call sign of Johansen. He was transmitting on the AID channel, as instructed. He sounded out of breath and excited. Did they have the suspect? I began to suspect that the popping sound had been a four-wheeler.
I picked up my mike and went on a different channel from Four. "Maitland, Three," I said, "Four has traffic on AID."
"Unable to copy him, Three," came the soft, feminine reply.
I was starting my engine and closing the door. I figured they'd need transport now, for sure.
"MAITLAND, FOUR ON AID!"
He sure sounded excited. I headed the car down the rutted lane as fast as I could. Maybe the suspect had fled, and would be heading toward a vehicle parked somewhere on the gravel road that snaked through the base of the hills.
"He's got traffic, Maitland," I said. He couldn't hear me on the INFO channel, which was fine, as I didn't want to interfere with his talking to the base station on the AID channel.
She heard him on his third attempt.
"Go ahead, Four . . ."
"MAITLAND, THIS IS FOUR . . . THIS IS TEN-THIRTY-THREE, I REPEAT, TEN-THIRTY-THREE! WE'VE BEEN HIT, AUTOMATIC WEAPONS, 688 IS SHOT! I NEED ASSISTANCE, FAST!"
A brief pause.
"Four," she said, pretty calmly, "I copy ten-thirty-three, ten-thirty-two, one officer down?"
"Ten-four!"
"Maitland . . . all cars . . . ten-thirty-three, Basil State Park, ten-thirty-two, officer down, possible automatic weapons . . ."
I punched up AID as I slid out of the farm lane onto the gravel. Shot? 688 shot?
"FOUR, THREE'S ON THE WAY, ABOUT A MILE OUT!" I hit the siren and lights on my unmarked car, and floored it, while trying to fasten my seat belt. The siren was to let anybody who was thinking about doing any more harm know help was on the way. Just maybe they'd back off. The little red light on the dash was for insurance purposes, in case I hit anybody. So was the belt.
I heard a garbled transmission, with the word Three in it, from Johansen. The damned hills were giving me problems as I came down into the valley.
Shot? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Product details
- Publisher : Bantam (May 2, 2000)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0553580957
- ISBN-13 : 978-0553580952
- Item Weight : 6.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 4 x 0.75 x 7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,739,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #28,221 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- #30,196 in Murder Thrillers
- #84,592 in Suspense Thrillers
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Donald Harstad is one of my favorite authors. I've been seeking out his books for years, for all of those reasons. I've read all of his books, most of them twice, a few three times, but always in paperback. I'm delighted to see they are now appearing as eBooks -- I'll buy them again, happily.
With one of Harstad's books, you know you're going to have several hours of pure reading pleasure. Admittedly, in this book, Harstad spends a little bit more time (and pages) on the intricacies of ballistics, most of which went over my head because I just wasn't interested enough to really focus on it. But that didn't matter -- I got the resolution just fine, and with just as much enjoyment.
Mr. Harstad certainly seems to know police procedure and he has an ear for dialog. The writing is good and his characters are believable. However, I had two problems with this book. First, the plot seemed overly convoluted to me. At times I had trouble following what was happening and who it was happening to. Second, the ending left things too up in the air for me. Granted, it's usually that way in real life but in a novel most people want the ending neatly tied up. In this book, it was not. That said, I'd still recommend reading this book, especially if you like police procedurals. I'll have to admit that conspiracy novels are not my real interest and I'm sure that colored the way I felt about the plot. Mr. Harstad is still a good writer and I think I'll give his first book a try.