by G. M. Ford
Corso got to his feet. First class was boarding. He fished the boarding pass from his pocket and walked over to the gate. The woman smiled. “And how are you today, sir?” she inquired.
Corso didn’t answer.
57
Corso opened the damp envelope.
Dear Frank,
If you’re reading this, I guess you must have survived, as I prayed so hard you would. Like you always said, “God protects fools and drunks, and only the good die young.”
I’ve had a lot of time to think lately. Time to go back over my life and sort of take stock of where I’ve been and where I’m going, if you know what I mean. All I know for sure is that my dreams haven’t come true. That everything I grew up wanting has somehow slipped away leaving me somewhere I never imagined being. It’s hard to describe exactly what I’m saying. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I know myself.
Anyway, I’ve decided to go away. Start over someplace new, maybe with a new set of dreams, hopefully with a new set of results. I don’t know what I want. All I know is that this isn’t it. I’ve sold the house, closed my studio and left without telling anyone but you. Wish me well. I’ll think of you often.
Please, Frank, please honor my last request. I know how you are. How you can’t stand things being out of your control. So I ask you. Please, if everything we’ve ever had together means anything to you at all, please don’t look for me.
XXX
MEG
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G.M. FORD is the author of three previous widely praised Frank Corso novels—A Blind Eye, Black River, and Fury—as well as six highly acclaimed mysteries featuring Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman. A former creative writing teacher in western Washington, Ford lives in Seattle and is currently working on his next Frank Corso novel.
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PRAISE
“Hands down, one of my favorite contemporary crime writers.”
Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River and Shutter Island
Praise for G.M. FORD, FRANK CORSO, and
RED TIDE
“A strong, scrappy writer…[who] keeps the pages turning.”
Detroit News
“In the edge-of-your-chair department, look for…Red Tide by G.M. Ford.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
“Ford is wham-bang, straight-laced, no fooling around.”
Denver Post
“Ford is a stylish and supremely confident writer…Corso [may be] one of the more interesting and durable series heroes around.”
St. Petersburg Times
“Frank Corso is irresistible, part Sam Spade, part Hunter S. Thompson…You’re in the hands of a superior storyteller.”
Martha C. Lawrence
“Plenty of page-turning thrills…G.M. Ford has vaulted into the forefront of [crime] writers.”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Red Tide depicts bioterror attacks on the Pacific Norhwest, and it does so in troubling, believable detail…Ford has clearly done his homework. He pulls no punches…Readers may never travel comfortably again on any mass-transit system.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Ford’s intelligently constructed story…gathers momentum like a runaway monorail car. You simply can’t get off until the ride is over.”
Booklist (*Starred Review*)
“G.M. Ford is a writer of great acuity and power…The real deal.”
Jonathan Kellerman
“[A] steely-eyed and speedy series.”
Seattle Times
“Ford hits the ground running with his fourth solid Frank Corso novel…Ford creates likable characters, whom he has the nerve to subject to the worst, no matter how attached the reader has become to them…[He] keeps the pace fast and the characters in the foreground, making this an entertaining read in a dependable series.”
Publishers Weekly
“Corso is a terrific, unpredictable character worth spending time with.”
Albany Times-Union
“Seattle takes on more interesting shades from Corso’s darker perspective.”
New York Times Book Review
“The action is well-paced…Frank Corso [is] as hard-boiled as his name.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Ford is making a deservedly big splash in the genre’s pond.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
BOOKS BY G. M. FORD
The Frank Corso Series
NO MAN’S LAND
RED TIDE
A BLIND EYE
BLACK RIVER
FURY
The Leo Waterman Series
THE DEADER THE BETTER
LAST DITCH
SLOW BURN
THE BUM’S RUSH
CAST IN STONE
WHO IN HELL IS WANDA FUCA?
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
RED TIDE. Copyright © 2004 by G.M. Ford. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JUNE 2005 ISBN: 9780061847820
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