Taken Below

By Phil Reade

Thomas Blume is about to face his deepest fear…

NYPD detective Thomas Blume stumbles into a kidnapping case that drags him into the bowels of the city. Now, in a race against time and a battle through a hidden world, he must face up to his deepest fears…

Can Blume conquer his demons…before it’s too late?

Find out in the Thomas Blume prequel TAKEN BELOW.

If you like gripping mysteries, thrilling action and suspense, you’ll love the next installment in PT Reade’s BOOK HITS.

Click and get your copy of TAKEN BELOW now!

Tags: Book hits, book shots, crime, hard boiled mysteries, mystery, mysteries, noir, private investigators, hard boiled thriller, hard boiled detective fiction, hard boiled private investigator mystery series, thriller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: PT Reade
• Release date: Jul 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781537825977

Book preview

Reade

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The following takes place before the events of HARD FALL …

Chapter One

Standing room only.

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All around, the putrid bodies crushed against one another. The air was stifling and the heat threatened to choke me. Thunderous roars screamed from below and I grimaced, knowing that was where I had to go.

Rush hour in New York City was not for the faint hearted. As I made my way from the World Trade Center Station down the concrete steps to the trains, I found the familiar sense of overwhelming that accompanied me on every journey on the metro. I knew deep down it was simply claustrophobia. I also knew it was all in my head and with some breathing exercises and a little calm, I could beat the condition. Still, it didn’t make it easy. The only reason I rode the subway at this hour at all was because the alternatives were far worse: sitting for 3 hours on the Holland Tunnel or trying to negotiate the Jersey Turnpike.

As a New York cop for over ten years, I should have been resistant to discomfort and difficult situations, but we all have our weaknesses. I looked around the throngs of people as I moved down to the platform. A sweating obese woman shoved past me, braying loudly at some unseen partner.

Hell, give me a hopped-up junkie with a gun over this crap any day.

The subway might have been a crush, but at least it was over quickly. I’d soon be back in my—in our—Hoboken apartment with a cold beer. That was the only light at the end of this tunnel.

It still took some getting used to. Our apartment.

Sarah.

God, I missed her. And my boy, Tommy. They were on the other side of the ocean, three thousand miles away. Maybe the air was cooler there.

I should have gone. To evade this heat, to be a good husband, to be a good father. But as usual, I’d screwed it up.

The look in her eyes, the piercing gaze she shot in my direction as she stormed toward the door. It was a look that still made me ashamed, one somewhere