Strangled - by Brian McGrory (Paperback)

About the Book

From the bestselling author of "Dead Line" and "The Incumbent" comes the fourth thriller featuring intrepid Boston newspaperman Jack Flynn, who goes up against one of America's most notorious killers--from four decades ago.

Book Synopsis

Deadly and deep-seated political conspiracies are nothing new to Jack Flynn, the popular lead reporter of the Boston Record. But in Strangled, he finds himself in the middle of a case that everyone thought had closed forty years ago -- the Boston Strangler. From the summer of 1962 to the winter of 1964, eleven women were strangled to death in their homes. The city had been panic-stricken. Dog pounds were cleaned out. Locksmiths worked twenty-hour days. The streets emptied after dark. Single women set up phone trees to check on each other's safety. Then, a year after the eleventh murder, the city breathed a heavy sigh of relief when convicted sex offender Albert DeSalvo confessed to the killings. Eight years later, he was stabbed to death in prison, forever ridding the world of the man who had terrorized a city. Or so everyone thought.

Boston, present-day. A series of murders has occurred in which all the victims, all female, have been strangled and left with markers eerily reminiscent of those once left by the "Phantom Fiend" -- garish bows tied around their necks and their bodies ghoulishly positioned to greet investigators as they entered the crime scene.

In typical fashion, the police and local politicians have turned on their publicity machine full-throttle in an attempt to cool any rumors about the possible return of the Strangler. Little do they know that Flynn is receiving letters from the killer himself, thrusting the newsman between the threats of a madman and several secretive, uncooperative officials, who are tied to the original case. With the lives of innocent women on the line, he must use his keen journalistic skills to determine whether or not this is a copycat on the loose, or if Albert DeSalvo was, in fact, not quite the fiend everyone so easily believed him to be. Is it possible that the Boston Strangler was never captured and that he's been lurking in the shadows, waiting to kill again?

Using fiction to examine the horrifying details of the Boston Strangler case and the possible outcomes of its investigation, McGrory has written an intelligent thriller crackling with newsroom energy and chilling suspense.

Review Quotes

..".an incredibly suspenseful and rip-roaring Boston saga."
-- "The Providence Journal"

"McGrory offers delicious descriptions of Boston's food, sights, and characters in this taut page-turner with enough suspense to make readers anxiously await the next installment."
-- "Booklist" (starred review)

."..an incredibly suspenseful and rip-roaring Boston saga."
-- "The Providence Journal"

"[Brian McGrory] knows how to tell a great story."
-- "Richmond Times-Dispatch"

"[McGrory] captures the flavor of the big-city newsroom and its denizens, the pulse and charms of Boston itself, and the political intrigue that hovers over all."
-- "The News Journal" (Wilmington, DE)

"A gripping, smart, and fast-paced mystery by a major talent that reveals one of the great secrets in the annals of modern crime -- that the real Boston Strangler was never caught. Brian McGrory writes in crackling, spare prose, with a dry wit and true insider's take on a great city. Clever, funny, and utterly compelling."
-- Joseph Finder, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Killer Instinct" and "Paranoia"

"McGrory displays a mastery that makes him, along with Les Standiford, one of the most artistic writers in the thriller genre.... [H]is tight plots are fresh with new complications just when we think we've got things figured out."
-- "Boston Globe"

"Most people who have been around the newspaper business for three or four decades will tell you it's not as much fun today as it used to be. In McGrory's Jack Flynn novels...it's still fun."
-- "Washington Post"


"McGrory offers delicious descriptions of Boston's food, sights, and characters in this taut page-turner with enough suspense to make readers anxiously await the next installment."

-- "Booklist" (starred review)


.,."an incredibly suspenseful and rip-roaring Boston saga."

-- "The Providence Journal"

..."an incredibly suspenseful and rip-roaring Boston saga."

-- "The Providence Journal"

"ÝBrian McGrory¨ knows how to tell a great story."

-- "Richmond Times-Dispatch"

"ÝMcGrory¨ captures the flavor of the big-city newsroom and its denizens, the pulse and charms of Boston itself, and the political intrigue that hovers over all."

-- "The News Journal" (Wilmington, DE)

About the Author

Brian McGrory was a roving national reporter for the Boston Globe, as well as the Globe's White House correspondent during the Clinton administration. He is now a columnist in the newspaper's Metro section. The author of three bestselling thrillers -- The Incumbent, The Nominee, and Dead Line -- he lives in Boston. Find out more at www.brianmcgrory.co