A former Customs and Police Officer, Andrew Hill’s first book in a crime series set in the New Forest, where he lived for 30 years, will be published in Spring 2022. An avid reader across the crime genre and regular at crime writing festivals, he now lives in West Sussex and works in property.
At face value, Gary & Beth Foster have what could be an idyllic life in River Falls, Michigan. Gary’s brother, Rod has a new business, and the couple have a baby on the way signifying a love that stretches back to high school.
Then Beth collapses in the mall and is rushed to hospital, where she is diagnosed with a highly aggressive brain tumour. With their insurance covering only palliative care, Gary searches frantically for any chance to save his wife’s life.
When Gary finds a clinical trial through a German biotech company, he thinks it gives Beth at least a 50/50 chance of surviving the tumour. However, the cost is $200,000 and they simply don’t have anywhere near that amount of money.
Across town, drug-dealer Otto Brennan is between a rock and a hard place. He owes his supplier, a Mexican cartel, $200,000 and doesn’t have the cash; all because a man called Devon Peterson has been strong-arming him for protection money. When he sees the newspaper appeal for funding Beth’s treatment, he starts cooking up a plan. A plan that will solve his cash flow that will not get traced back to him.
Brennan arranges a meet with Gary and tells him he will fund Beth’s treatment. All Gary has to do is kill Devon Peterson. There is a fly in the ointment, however. Peterson, is a cop and a dirty one at that.
The author poses that ever present question, ‘Are there any limits to what you’d do for a loved one?’ and he does it remarkably well. Lacing together a touch of domestic noir with good dose of thriller and a dab of police procedure, until you have an absorbing and well-paced story with an engaging array of characters.
