Fourth Day |
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Allison & Busby UK Hardback May 2010 |
Fourth Day is the eighth book in the Charlie Fox series . . .
The cult calling itself Fourth Day appears well-funded and highly jealous of its privacy. Five years ago Thomas Witney went in to try and get the evidence that the cult’s charismatic leader, Randall Bane, was responsible for the death of Witney’s son, Liam. Witney never came out.
Now, ex-Special Forces soldier turned bodyguard, Charlie Fox, and her partner, Sean Meyer, have been tasked to get Witney out, willing or not. But planning and executing a clean, surgical snatch is only the beginning.
Five years is a long time to be on the inside and the man who comes out has changed beyond all recognition. Can Witney be trusted when he says he now believes Bane is innocent of the crime and, if he is, who was behind the boy’s demise? And what happened to Witney’s safety net − the people who were supposed to extract him, by force if necessary, after less than a year?
With the dead man’s ex-wife demanding answers, Charlie agrees to go undercover into Fourth Day’s California stronghold. A fast covert op. No real danger for someone with her mindset and training. But Charlie has her own secrets, even from Sean, and she’s not prepared for the lure of Randall Bane, or how easily he will pinpoint her weaknesses . . .
From the author's notebook
The title for Fourth Day was a lucky find. I knew the book was going to be set mainly in a cult in California, and I checked carefully to make sure the names I had in mind were not genuinely attached to any real religious sects. As well as something that sounded suitable for a cult, I needed a title that had ‘fourth’ in it somewhere, to satisfy the publisher’s request for sequenced titles. Then I found the following quote in the Book of Genesis (King James Bible) and thought it was perfect:
‘And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night . . . And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness . . . And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.’
Once again, I offered a character name in the charity auction at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Baltimore in 2008. The winning bid came from BG Ritts, who asked that I use only parts of her name rather than the whole thing as is, so it would be more like a private joke. It was a challenge, but that’s all part of the fun. I also had an unusual request from someone who really wanted to be the villain of the piece. And if you want to find out who that is, you’ll just have to read the book!