THE PARIS DIRECTIVE

A gripping international novel from a new thriller writer.

In a Berlin hotel room in the late 90's, two former French intelligence agents hire Klaus Reiner, a ruthlessly effective hit man, to eliminate an American industrialist vacationing in the Dordogne, Southwestern France. Reiner easily locates his target in the small village of Taziac, but the hit is troubled by complications and collateral damage. Enter Inspector Paul Mazarelle, formerly of Paris but now living in Taziac, charged with bringing his experience and record of success in the capital to bear on the gruesome quadruple homicide at the height of tourist season. Both Mazarelle's investigation and Reiner's job are tangled when Molly, a New York City district attorney and daughter of two of the victims, arrives to identify the bodies and begins asking questions. All evidence points to Ali Sedak, a local Arab handyman, but Mazarelle and Molly have doubts, and Reiner must return to Taziac to ensure they see things as he arranged them, or keep quiet. Little does anyone in the picturesque French countryside know how politically charged this crime is, and its global ramifications, stemming from the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Sarajevo, could overshadow everything. Tailored in crisp prose and possessed of all the luxury refinements of the best international intrigue, Jay's novel chills, excites, and engrosses, pitting a smooth, James Bondian villain against an earthy, sympathetic Frenchman whose twilight career is suddenly heating up.