The Viper: A Dave Gurney Novel

Pushed to his breaking point and accused of murder, retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney must face his greatest adversary yet to solve a mystery that is quickly tearing his world apart

Tennis bad boy Ziko Slade is serving twenty years for the grisly murder of small-time criminal Lenny Lerman. The facts of the case--and Slade’s checkered past--seem indisputable. What begins as a cursory review of the case as a favor to Dave Gurney’s wife’s friend soon spirals into something much more complicated. When Gurney’s involvement threatens to expose a viper’s nest of corruption, he finds himself framed for murder and pursued by a sensational media, a ruthless district attorney, and a coldblooded killer.

As he evades the law and attempts to solve the case to salvage his reputation, Gurney grapples with the realization that his unshakable need for police work is costing him more than the brilliant detective ever suspected. The Viper is the most shocking and riveting chapter yet in the internationally bestselling Dave Gurney series.

JOHN VERDON is the author of the Dave Gurney series of thrillers, international bestsellers published in more than two dozen languages: Think of a Number, Shut Your Eyes Tight, Let the Devil Sleep, Peter Pan Must Die, Wolf Lake, White River Burning, and On Harrow Hill. Before becoming a crime fiction writer, Verdon had two previous careers: as an advertising creative director and a custom furniture maker. He currently lives with his wife, Naomi, in the rural mountains of upstate New York―raising chickens, tending the garden, mowing the fields, and devising the intricate plots of the Gurney novels.