WILLIAM LASHNER

Victor Carl aurait certainement préféré ne jamais entendre l'histoire de son dernier client en date. Seulement, quand on est l'avocat criminel des pires crapules de Philadelphie, ce n'est pas uniquement pour discuter météo ou porter la cravate : il faut s'attendre à tout. Etre prêt à se taire comme à courir le cent mètres. Faire en sorte de ne pas être le suivant à se faire trancher la gorge pour le contenu d'une valise et remonter des pistes sanglantes vieilles de vingt ans... Bref, lorsqu'il se retrouve avec, entre les mains, les photos " artistiques " d'une dame mariée à un juge de premier plan, Victor Carl devrait savoir que le torchon brûle. Qu'importe ! Victor n'apprécie pas que l'on trucide ses clients. Qu'on le menace ou qu'on le craigne, qu'on le tabasse ou qu'on le charme, il ne lâchera pas le morceau...

« - Alors vous intervenez dans la vie des gens, qu'ils le veuillent ou non ? - Je joue mon rôle. - Vous êtes cinglé, dis-je. - Comme un renard enragé, dit Bob. Mais laissez-moi vous poser une question, Victor. Qui avez-vous aidé aujourd'hui ? » De fait, Victor Carl, lorsqu'il aide les gens, ne le fait que sur demande. Il ne vient pas, comme Bob, d'éclater un type trois fois plus gros que lui sous prétexte que ça l'aidera dans sa vie conjugale. Bob est dentiste, rondouillard mais surtout dangereux : l'archétype même de l'ami qui vous veut du bien sans que vous le sachiez. À tout prix. Victor Carl, qui se contentait d'assurer la défense d'un cuisinier accusé du meurtre de sa femme, n'a sans doute pas croisé le chemin de Bob par hasard. C'est bien connu, l'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions et Bob, à force de faire le bien, patauge dans le sang.

Some victims deserve nothing less than the truth . . . Ethically adventurous Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl usually does the right thing, but often for the wrong reasons. When old law school classmate Guy Forrest is accused of murdering his beautiful lover, Hailey Prouix, in their Main Line love nest, Carl agrees to represent him -- while keeping silent about his own prior romantic involvement with the victim, and his present determination to see that his client is punished for the brutal crime. But once Carl sets the machinery of retribution in motion, it may be impossible to stop it, even after his certainty begins to crack. Now Victor Carl must race across the country to uncover shocking truths: Who, really, was Hailey Prouix? And why is a killer still waiting in her shadow?

Defense attorney Victor Carl has never been particularly concerned about trivial things like ethics and morality. A beautiful woman has been brutally slain, but as long as the price is right, Carl will do whatever he can to get convicted wife murderer François Dube out of prison -- whether his client deserves it or not.But a major distraction has blown into Carl''s world: a strange, obsessed guardian angel who''s insinuating himself into every aspect of the lawyer''s life, an unbidden interloper who may be too close to the Dube case for comfort . . . and close enough to Victor Carl to kill.

Hard-luck Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl is just itching for the opportunity to sell out. Then good fortune comes knocking at his door in the guise of William Prescott III, a blue-blood attorney from one of the citys most prestigious firms. Prescott wants Victor to represent a councilmans aide who is on trial, along with his boss, for extortion, arson, and murder. Its the juiciest, highest-profile courtroom extravaganza in years -- and all Carl has to do is show up, shut up, and follow Prescotts lead.But it soon becomes clear that somenes setting him and his client up to take a long, hard fall. Victor Carl may be desperate and unethical but hes no ones patsy. And to survive in this legal snake pit of secrets, lies, and lethal double-crosses, hes going to play the game his way.

A stained legal career spent defending mob enforcers, two-bit hoods, and other dregs of humanity has left Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl jaded and resentful -- until a new client appears to offer him an escape and a big payday. Caroline Shaw, the desperate scion of a prominent Main Line dynasty, wants him to prove that her sister Jacquelines recent suicide was, in fact, murder before Caroline suffers a similar fate.It is a case that propels Carl out of his courtroom element and into a murky world of fabulous wealth, bloody family legacies, and dark secrets. Victor Carl would love nothing more than to collect his substantial fee and get out alive. But a bitter truth is dragging him in dangerously over his head, and ever closer to the shattering revelation that the most terrifying darkness of all lies not in the heart of a Central American jungle...but in the twisted soul of man.

It means something to be a client. It means he gets my loyalty, whether he deserves it or not. It means he gets my absolute best for the price of an hourly fee. It means in a world where every person has turned against him there is one person who will fight by his side for as long as there is a battle to be fought.Victor CarlAuthor of the acclaimed novels Fatal Flaw, Bitter Truth, and Hostile Witness, bestselling writer William Lashner crafts dark, witty, engrossing tales of suspense involving one of the most intriguing characters of modern popular fiction: Victor Carl.A defense attorney who lives his life in shades of gray, Victor Carl fights all the right fights for all the wrong reasons. With a failing legal practice, a dead-end love life, a pile of unpaid traffic tickets, and a talent for mixing it up in tough working-class bars and sparring with obstinate cops, Victor skates on the razors edge of legal ethics in search of the easy buck. But the one absolute in Victors life is loyalty, especially to a clienteven if he happens to be dead. Like Joey Cheaps, a no-account who takes a knife to the throat down on the waterfront, but not before he shares with his lawyer his part in a terrible crime.With his client murdered, Victor must search for a killer. But solving the crime means investigating the darkest spot in Joey Cheapss misspent youth, sending Victor on a twisting journey that leads to a missing suitcase stuffed with money, photographs of a mysterious naked woman, and a Supreme Court justice with a secret to hide. And most dangerous of all, Victor steps into the crosshairs of a vengeful enemy with a past full of pain and a taste for blood.As thrilling as it is darkly evocative, Past Due is a superb tale of crime and justice that takes the intrepid Victor Carl into brilliant new territory and confirms William Lashners place among the top suspense writers of our time.

Lashner keeps the reader spellbound.Harlan Coben New York Times bestselling author William Lashner takes a brief hiatus from his popular series character, lawyer Victor Carl (Hostile Witness, Fatal Flaw, A Killers Kiss et al), and electrifies with Blood and Bonea relentlessly exciting standalone thriller. A gripping story of a hard-luck slacker pulled into a deadly conspiracy surrounding the late father he barely knew, it enthralls and surprises on every page. The Washington Post raves: Lashner is as impressive as anyone writing thrillers today. Blood and Bone is the proof.

New York Times bestselling author William Lashner returns with a brilliantly twisty tale that probes the dark side of the law -- and manUnlike the rest of you, I cheerfully admit to my own utter selfishness. I am self-made, self-absorbed, self-serving, self-referential, even self-deprecating, in a charming sort of way. In short, I am all the selfs except selfless. Yet every so often, I run across a force of nature that shakes my sublime self-centeredness to its very roots. Something that tears through the landscape like a tornado, leaving nothing but ruin and reexamination in its wake. Something like Bob. --Victor CarlA beautiful young woman is dead, her husband convicted of the murder. In seeking a new trial for the husband, defense attorney Victor Carl must confront not only a determined prosecutor and a police detective who might have set up his client, but also a strange little busybody named Bob.Bob has the aspiration, one could even say compulsion, to help those around him. And it usually works out well for all concerned, except when it ends in blood. But Victor doesnt know that . . . yet.Thanks to Bob, Victor is suddenly dressing better, dating a stunning woman, and both his economic prospects and his teeth are gleaming. Its all good, until Victor finds a troubling connection between Bob and the murdered wife. Is Bob a kind of saint or is this obsessive Good Samaritan, in reality, a murderer?Filled with the keen wit, deep poignancy, twisting suspense, and dark realism that has entranced readers, impressed reviewers, and made William Lashners previous novels bestsellers, Falls the Shadow is a riveting novel sure to leave readers eager for more.

The acclaimed author of Hostile Witness and Veritas is back with the legal thriller of the seasona sizzling tale of murder, innocence, and justice. . . . William Lashner is . . . remarkable.Nelson DeMilleLust will make a fool of any man, but it is only love that can truly ruin him. So believes Victor Carl, the antithesis of the classic sharp-eyed, cool, and dispassionate lawyer. Late one night Victor gets a panicked phone call from an old law school buddy. Guy Forrest claims hes just found the body of his fiancee in the house they shared. The victim is the entracing Hailey Prouix, a woman with numerous charms who had mesmerized Victorand every other man she ever met. Though Victor is convinced Guy is guilty, he agrees to represent him, silently vowing to see justice done. To build his case, the determined attorney embarks on a quest that will take him cross-country and backand lead him to the horrifying discovery that nothing is as simple as it seems. Now time is running out and all too soon the wheels of justice Guy set into motion will fall with unmerciful force on his own head.

It must have been a hell of a night. One of those long, dangerous nights where the world shifts and doors open. A night of bad judgment and wrong turns, of weariness and hilarity and a hard sexual charge that both frightens and compels. A night where your life changes irrevocably, for better or for worse, but who the hell cares, so long as it changes.It must have been a night just like that, yeah, if only I could remember it.All Victor Carl knows is that hes just woken up with his suit in tatters, his socks missing, and a stinging pain in his chest thanks to a new tattoo he doesnt remember getting: a heart inscribed with the name Chantal Adair.My apartment is trashed, my partnership is cracking up, Im drinking too much, flirting with reporters, sleeping with Realtors. Frankly, Im in desperate need of something hard and clean in my life, and finding Chantal is all I have.Is Chantal Adair the love of Victors life or a terrible drunken mistake? Victor intends to find out, but right now hes got bigger concerns. His client, a wanted man, needs to come in out of the cold, and hes got a stolen painting for Victor to use as leverage.But someone is not happy that the painting has surfaced. Or that the client is threatening to tell all. Or that Victor is sniffing around for information about Chantal Adair. The closer Victor comes to figuring it all out, the deeper into danger he falls, as the ghosts of the past return to claim whats theirs.