Richard North Patterson - Fall From Grace

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR FALL FROM GRACE

Fall from Grace is a stunning tale of betrayal and lovefamily members torn apart as the possible murder of the patriarch, whose power and prestige have dominated for decades, unravels secrets and scandals against the dramatic backdrop of the unforgiving Vineyard landscape. Richard North Patterson delivers thrilling suspense every time.

LINDA FAIRSTEIN, author of Silent Mercy

PRAISE FOR RICHARD NORTH PATTERSONS THE DEVILS LIGHT

The Devils Light will grab you from the very first page and never let go. Pattersons amazing storytelling is made all the better by his emotionally complex characters. I was intrigued.

KATHY REICHS,

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Flash and Bones

PRAISE FOR RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON

Richard North Patterson is a terrific novelist.

The Washington Post

Readers... will be dazzled by [Pattersons] depth of knowledge.

The New York Times

Patterson has redefined himself as a writer willing to take risks.

USA Today

The mysterious, violent death of a prominent New England patriarch exposes a nest of dark family secrets in bestselling author Richard North Pattersons twentieth compelling novel.

Adam Blaine arrives on the island of Marthas Vineyard to attend the funeral of his estranged father, Ben Blaine, a famous and charismatic writer who has served as patriarch of his clan for many years. A man fond of sailboats, good wine, and women other than his wife, Ben Blaine has left behind a string of secrets in addition to an emotionally distraught widow and his strangely aloof mistress, Carla Pacelli, a beautiful television actress who once had a drug problem.

As soon as Adam arrives, he discovers that Ben has disinherited his mother, uncle, and brother in favor of his lover, and begins to wonder if his fathers deathcaused by an inexplicable fall from a cliffmight be murder. Using his training as a CIA operative, Adam skillfully seeks to obscure the evidence suggesting that a family member may have killed his father, while at the same time fighting to undo the will, which favors the enigmatic Carla. As he walks this tightrope, Adam risks his freedom and perhaps his life, even as he unearths increasingly disturbing family secrets never meant to be discovered, and which cause him to question his understanding of his own life and everyone around himhis beloved mother, uncle, and brother and, not least, Carla.

Filled with tight psychological intrigue that will keep readers guessing until the very last page, Fall from Grace confirms that Richard North Patterson is one of the best in the business ( Time ).

RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON is the author of The Devils Light, In the Name of Honor, The Spire, and sixteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in Marthas Vineyard, San Francisco, and Cabo San Lucas with his wife.

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COPYRIGHT 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER

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Also by Richard North Patterson

The Devils Light

In the Name of Honor

The Spire

Eclipse

The Race

Exile

Conviction

Balance of Power

Protect and Defend

Dark Lady

No Safe Place

Silent Witness

The Final Judgment

Eyes of a Child

Degree of Guilt

Private Screening

Escape the Night

The Outside Man

The Lasko Tangent

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 by Richard North Patterson

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First Scribner hardcover edition March 2012

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Designed by Carla Jayne Jones

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011047427

ISBN 978-1-4516-1705-4
ISBN 978-1-4516-1708-5 (eBook)

For Al Giannini

Part One

The Missing Son

One

S liding into the taxi, Adam Blaine told the cabbie where to drop him, and resumed his moody contemplation of his father.

The driver, a woman in her fifties, stole a glance at him in the rearview mirror. Though it was his practice in such proximity to be pleasant, Adam remained quiet. The past consumed him: he had returned to Marthas Vineyard, the home he had once loved, for the first time in a decade. Benjamin Blaine had made this possible by dying.

Leaving the airport, they took the road to Edgartown, passing woods and fields on both sides. At length, the driver said, Forgive me, but arent you related to Benjamin Blaine, the novelist?

For a moment, Adam wished that he could lie. Im Adam. His son.

The woman nodded. I saw you play basketball in high school. Even then you looked just like him.

It was inescapable, Adam knew: for the rest of his life, he would look in the mirror and see a man he loathed. Im so sorry for your loss, the woman continued quietly. I drove him to the airport several times. Such a vigorous, handsome man, so full of life. To die like that is tragic.

Was it tragic for his mother, Adam wondered, or would release from Ben Blaines dark vortex be an unspoken mercy? It was certainly a shock, he responded. But not as much of a shock, he thought to himself, as the last time I saw him .

Understanding none of this, the driver said sympathetically, I guess you came back for the funeralI cant remember seeing you in years. Where do you make your home now?