Mirror Maze

A secret hall of mirrors, a labyrinth of fear; Janek returns in a hypnotic thriller...Nobody writes better psychological thrillers than William Bayer. And no character in contemporary crime fiction is as compelling or complex as Lieutenant Frank Janek of the N.Y.P.D. Now Bayer and Janek are back-in a brilliant novel of terror and excitement.A beautiful young woman meets her latest "pickup" in a Manhattan hotel bar and goes back with him to his room, where she drugs him, robs him, and humiliates him. Several hours later, the "mark" is found dead, the mysterious young woman is wanted for the murder, and Janek and his team of detectives are assigned to the case. Simultaneously, Janek becomes involved in the reopening of a grisly society-murder investigation that has plagued Internal Affairs for nine years. As he sets out to solve both puzzles, the present and past eerily dovetail, culminating with a deadly battle in a secret mirror maze hidden beneath a "ghost" amusement park.Mirror Maze sinuously leads the reader through one maze after another- literal, theoretical, and psychological. As with the other best-selling Janek novels, Switch and Wallflower, Mirror Maze is a superb police procedural, tense and violent, as well as a thoughtful examination of the blurring of illusion and reality, guilt and innocence.FIND MORE OF William Bayer'S BOOKS IN DIGITAL FROM CROSSROAD PRESS, including the first two Janek Detective novels, Switch and Wallflower, his novels Blindside, and Visions of Isabelle, and his lavish, richly detailed foreign detective series including the novels Tangier and Pattern Crimes.Crossroad Press is happy to present mysteries from a number of prolific and talented authors, including Bill Crider, Bill Pronzini, John Lutz, Tom Piccirilli, Ed Lynskey, Al Sarrantonio, Edward Gorman and more. Search these authors by name, or simply search CROSSROAD PRESS for a list of titles.The French edition of Mirror Maze won the prestigious “Le Grand Prix Calibre 38.”PRAISE FOR MIRROR MAZE:WALL STREET JOURNAL: “Mr. Bayer’s fictional maze is filled with surprising turns and intentionally frustrating dead ends. Discovered within it are straight and crooked cops, devious and above board attorneys, caring psychiatrists, cold-blooded predators and a surprisingly sympathetic victimizer. Janek himself proves to be excellent company: a likeable and believable hero, more than a match for the monsters he eventually finds.”LIBRARY JOURNAL: “An outstanding novel.”PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “A very tangled web of kinkiness, greed, police corruption and betrayal.”KIRKUS REVIEWS: “A powerhouse procedural...another dazzling high-wire act from Bayer!”JOE GORES: “Stunning in its controlled wildness, its beauty, and its understanding of obsession as tragedy...a superb meditation upon the human condition, and one of the most compelling novels of the year.”ROSS THOMAS: “A plot more cunning than any maze. A splendid treat.”MOSTLY MURDER: “Suspense is Bayer’s forte...the reader is constantly surprised by the twists and turns, the dead ends and optical illusions. You can’t wait to find out how it comes out.”