GETAWAY

Michelle Mason tells herself she's on vacation. A brief stay in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta. It's a chance to figure out her next move after the unexpected death of her banker husband, who's left behind a scandal and a pile of debt. The trip was already paid for, and it beats crashing in her sister's spare room. When a good-looking man named Daniel approaches her on the beach, the margaritas have kicked in and she decides: why not?

But the date doesn't go as either of them planned. An assault on Daniel in her hotel room, switched cell phones and an encounter with a "friend" of Daniel's named Gary gets Michelle enmeshed in a covert operation involving drug runners, goons, and venture capitalists. Michelle already knows she's caught in a dangerous trap. But she quickly finds that running is not an option. If she's not careful, she'll end up buried in the town dump, with the rest of the trash. Now she needs to fight smart if she wants to survive her vacation.

Lisa Brackmann has worked as a motion picture executive and an issues researcher in a presidential campaign. Her debut novel, "Rock Paper Tiger", set on the fringes of the Chinese art world, made several "Best of 2010" lists, including Amazon's Top 100 Novels and Top 10 Mystery/ Thrillers, and was nominated for the Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best Debut Novel.