Bouncer Post #120

Title: A NEW WAY TO DIE

Genre: Adult Thriller

Word Count: 75,000

Query:

Jimmy Marrone is a New York City Homicide Detective assigned to the 20^th Precinct on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In a setting where Central Park, Lincoln Center and even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade come under his jurisdiction, he is swept into the hunt for an extremely meticulous, imaginative killer who has mastered one of the most violent video games on the Internet and brought his game out into the street.

With the first victim being the young fiancé of the game designer, and the body count rising more quickly than they can hope to respond, Jimmy and his partner Deech Rosselli need to discover how the victims are selected and possibly even connected if they hope to put an end to the violence. 

With the murders being conducted in secure buildings, in moving cars in broad daylight and with victims being chosen from what seems to be totally at random, Jimmy and Deech find themselves on the dangerous path taking them into the mind of the killer who is crying out for his fifteen minutes of fame.  As questions arise to the killer’s ability to access the victims the detectives find a clue that is tied to the fate of the investigation and once again bring them back to the game. 

It is all about the game.

A NEW WAY TO DIE is my debut.  It is a 75,000-word Thriller.

First 250:

From the moment he heard the bell signaling the arrival of the elevator, his eyes locked on the doors.  He had waited for hours outside her building, and when he finally saw the light in her office darken, he knew it would be only minutes before she was stepping off the elevator to get to her car.  Almost instinctively, he re-adjusted the mask that covered his face, and slipped on a pair of latex gloves, pulling them tight so they wouldn’t fall off during the madness.

       

Silently, the doors slid open and a second or two passed before the pretty blond stepped from the car.  Traces of light from the low wattage bulbs made her hair glisten, an iridescent halo marking the prey as she paused on the cement pad before venturing out into the darkness.

            

He selected her because she fit the profile perfectly.  A powerful attorney, immersed in an extremely high-profile case, this one promised the front page the moment they discovered the body.  And then, there were the other advantages, the one he had managed to discover through the hours spent outside her bedroom window, late at night, at the moment she felt the most comfortable and the most secure.  The long golden hair pulled tightly back from her face during the day, but allowed to fall down past her shoulders at night; the voluptuous, firm body hidden carefully underneath the business suit, and the long, shapely legs that nothing could manage to hide.

            

His eyes stayed on her.  Riveted.  His breathing mirrored hers as he tried to limit the possibility of her sensing something was wrong and suddenly getting away.