Bleed Through
Gripping, fast-paced and unflinchingly reflective of the #MeToo era, Bleed Through grabs from the very first page, pitting a powerful, predatory man against a young female entrepreneur, Kim Hadley, with a tragic past but also a defiant sense of justice.
Inspired by actual events in the life of a former special victims prosecutor, this second in the series continues the path of ADA Alex Greco. Still battling his own tragic past and tending its dark secrets, Alex and Kim test their mettle against an aggressive defense team which will stop at nothing to stop them- even if it means the personal destruction of them both.
On an autumn night in a chic Manhattan neighborhood, a young woman crawls out of an alley, clothes torn, bruised and beaten. Although well-dressed and attractive, she uses her last ounce of strength to flee the scene when the police arrive. Thus begins Bleed Through, a riveting and unpredictable story of a brutal attempted rape, a strong but reluctant victim, and the system that eventually takes her case--but offers as much risk and un-certainty as it does hope for justice. Catching the case is ADA Alex Greco and Detective Angie Keegan, both newly assigned to a citywide unit designed to take on New York's toughest special victims cases. Their quest to identify the victim and encourage her to seek justice is where the story begins. But the pitfalls they encounter against a wealthy, well-connected defendant and the secrets unearthed along the way soon make for a shocking set of twists and turns that not only threaten the case but also bore malevolently into the lives of those involved.
Mystery & Thriller / Fiction / Legal / Crime
Excerpt
Friday, September 15, 2017 10:53 p.m.
After 9/11, the cameras went up. New York City, like everywhere else, was on its way to becoming a full-time surveil- lance environment anyway, but the nightmare of that day accelerated the trend. In addition to the multitude the NYPD monitored, they were attached to every business, school and residential building–unblinking, 24/7 observers of endless ATM transactions, street traffic, and quiet opulence in the right apartment lobby.
The last one to capture the slender, coiffed image of Kimberly Hadley in the final moments before her life was shattered was from such a lobby. The building, called The Vernon, was in SoHo, on a quiet, brick-paved section of Wooster Street. Fastened on the wall across from the doorman’s desk, the camera recorded the small but sleek, dark accented lobby, with its black marble floor gleaming beneath the polished mahogany desk.
Passing in front of it at 10:54 p.m., with their backs to the camera, were Kim Hadley and Kevin Dunaway, her dinner companion. Dunaway lived in the building and paused momentarily at the desk to ask for an expected envelope. The doorman, a friendly, perpetually smiling man named Gavin, dug it out from somewhere on the desk and handed it to him. Kim and Kevin then disappeared around a corner toward the elevators. Kevin led the way, with Kim following close behind.
The next camera to capture Kim Hadley, crawling and bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose, an eye-socket nearly fractured and her skirt torn at the waist, was mounted outside and pointed toward a narrow, time-beaten alley to the left (if someone were looking out) of the building’s glass front doors. Another doorman, Luis, had relieved Gavin at 11:00 p.m. Luis monitored a group of four cameras that recorded different areas in and around The Vernon. He was watching the Mets game on his iPhone with half a hoagie in his mouth when movement on the alley camera caught his eye. At first, he thought he was seeing an animal, a dog maybe, hobbling along on a bad leg. Then he spit out his sandwich, dropped his phone on the desk and sprinted out the door.
Awards
Silver Winner: 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award
Mystery & Thriller Category
Praise for Bleed Through
Dedications
To the brave and brilliant women I've worked with for over 20 years, and in memoriam of my dear friend Teresa Scalzo, the most courageous, compassionate, and effective member of the anti-sexual violence prosecution community I ever had the privilege to work with and learn from. I miss you, T. Every day.
Additional Details
ISBN: 978-0999790382 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-0999790380 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-0999790397 (hardback)
FORMATS: ebook, paperback, hardback
