"Downfall"

Jeff Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of Adrenaline, The Last Minute, and the newly released Downfall. All three books feature Sam Capra, former CIA agent turned owner of bars around the world.

Abbott applied the Page 69 Test to Downfall and reported the following:

From Page 69:

Just like his brother, he looked confused, surprised. Life can end in a snap; we wrap ourselves in all sorts of blankets to hide that cruel fact.

Page 69 in Downfall is a very representative page for this Faustian thriller. In it, former CIA agent Sam Capra has already killed a man named Rostov in self-defense in his San Francisco bar. Fearful that an enemy from his spying days has pursued him into his new life, he's stolen Rostov's driver's license before the police see it and has come to the man's apartment to find out why he attacked Sam. But instead he's found a dangerous man already there, going through his attacker's apartment, and an innocent person-Rostov's brother--arrives at the apartment in the middle of their confrontation. In a way it's a perfect microcosm of Downfall. Sam is up against a powerful enemy who thinks nothing of destroying a stranger for his own benefit, and Sam is entirely concerned with saving an innocent stranger--even if earlier in the evening, he's killed the man's own brother.

Learn more about the book and author at Jeff Abbott's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Trust Me.

The Page 69 Test: Adrenaline.

Writers Read: Jeff Abbott (July 2011).

Writers Read: Jeff Abbott (August 2012).

--Marshal Zeringue