Pocket
July 2009
On Sale: July 21, 2009
Featuring: Britt Shelley; Raley Gannon; Jay Burgess
560 pages ISBN: 1416563075 EAN: 9781416563075 Paperback (reprint) Add to Wish List
New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown
returns with a tale of corruption and betrayal, revenge and
reversal - where friends become foes, and heroes become
criminals in the ultimate abuse of power.
When newswoman Britt Shelley wakes up to find herself in
bed with Jay Burgess, a rising star detective in the
Charleston PD, she remembers nothing of how she got
there...or of how Jay wound up dead.
Handsome and hard-partying, Jay was a hero of the
disastrous fire that five years earlier had destroyed
Charleston's police headquarters. The blaze left seven
people dead, but the death toll would have been much higher
if not for the bravery of Jay and three other city
officials who risked their lives to lead others to safety.
Firefighter Raley Gannon, Jay's lifelong friend, was off-
duty that day. Though he might not have been a front-line
hero, he was assigned to lead the investigation into the
cause of the fire. It was an investigation he never got to
complete. Because on one calamitous night, Raley's world
was shattered.
Scandalized, wronged by the people he trusted most, Raley
was forced to surrender the woman he loved and the work to
which he'd dedicated his life. For five years his
resentment against the men who exploited their hero status
to further their careers -- and ruin his -- had festered,
but he was helpless to set things right.
That changes when he learns of Jay Burgess's shocking death
and Britt Shelley's claim that she has no memory of her
night with him. As the investigation into Jay's death
intensifies, and suspicion against Britt Shelley mounts,
Raley realizes that the newswoman, Jay's last sexual
conquest, might be his only chance to get personal
vindication -- and justice for the seven victims of the
police station fire.
But there are powerful men who don't want to address
unanswered questions about the fire and who will go to any
lengths to protect their reputations. As Raley and Britt
discover more about what happened that fateful day, the
more perilous their situation becomes, until they're not
only chasing after the truth but running for their lives.
Friends are exposed as foes, heroes take on the taint of
criminals, and no one can be trusted completely. A tale
about audacious corruption -- and those with the courage to
expose it -- Smoke Screen is Sandra Brown's most searing
and intense novel yet.