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About the Book

This New York ad agency is ruled by sex, drugs… and murder.

Everyone who knows Tim says he’s a good guy. But the popular advertising exec has a problem: a lot of the people who know him are getting murdered. And by the time he figures out why, Tim won’t feel so good anymore.

ALSO BY JAMES PATTERSON

ALEX CROSS NOVELS

Along Came a Spider

Kiss the Girls

Jack and Jill

Cat and Mouse

Pop Goes the Weasel

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Four Blind Mice

The Big Bad Wolf

London Bridges

Mary, Mary

Cross

Double Cross

Cross Country

Alex Cross’s Trial (with Richard DiLallo)

I, Alex Cross

Cross Fire

Kill Alex Cross

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross

Alex Cross, Run

Cross My Heart

Hope to Die

Cross Justice

Cross the Line

THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB SERIES

1st to Die

2nd Chance (with Andrew Gross)

3rd Degree (with Andrew Gross)

4th of July (with Maxine Paetro)

The 5th Horseman (with Maxine Paetro)

The 6th Target (with Maxine Paetro)

7th Heaven (with Maxine Paetro)

8th Confession (with Maxine Paetro)

9th Judgement (with Maxine Paetro)

10th Anniversary (with Maxine Paetro)

11th Hour (with Maxine Paetro)

12th of Never (with Maxine Paetro)

Unlucky 13 (with Maxine Paetro)

14th Deadly Sin (with Maxine Paetro)

15th Affair (with Maxine Paetro)

16th Seduction (with Maxine Paetro)

DETECTIVE MICHAEL BENNETT SERIES

Step on a Crack (with Michael Ledwidge)

Run for Your Life (with Michael Ledwidge)

Worst Case (with Michael Ledwidge)

Tick Tock (with Michael Ledwidge)

I, Michael Bennett (with Michael Ledwidge)

Gone (with Michael Ledwidge)

Burn (with Michael Ledwidge)

Alert (with Michael Ledwidge)

Bullseye (with Michael Ledwidge)

PRIVATE NOVELS

Private (with Maxine Paetro)

Private London (with Mark Pearson)

Private Games (with Mark Sullivan)

Private: No. 1 Suspect (with Maxine Paetro)

Private Berlin (with Mark Sullivan)

Private Down Under (with Michael White)

Private L.A. (with Mark Sullivan)

Private India (with Ashwin Sanghi)

Private Vegas (with Maxine Paetro)

Private Sydney (with Kathryn Fox)

Private Paris (with Mark Sullivan)

The Games (with Mark Sullivan)

Private Delhi (with Ashwin Sanghi)

NYPD RED SERIES

NYPD Red (with Marshall Karp)

NYPD Red 2 (with Marshall Karp)

NYPD Red 3 (with Marshall Karp)

NYPD Red 4 (with Marshall Karp)

DETECTIVE HARRIET BLUE SERIES

Never Never (with Candice Fox)

Fifty Fifty (with Candice Fox)

STAND-ALONE THRILLERS

Sail (with Howard Roughan)

Swimsuit (with Maxine Paetro)

Don’t Blink (with Howard Roughan)

Postcard Killers (with Liza Marklund)

Toys (with Neil McMahon)

Now You See Her (with Michael Ledwidge)

Kill Me If You Can (with Marshall Karp)

Guilty Wives (with David Ellis)

Zoo (with Michael Ledwidge)

Second Honeymoon (with Howard Roughan)

Mistress (with David Ellis)

Invisible (with David Ellis)

The Thomas Berryman Number

Truth or Die (with Howard Roughan)

Murder House (with David Ellis)

Woman of God (with Maxine Paetro)

Hide and Seek

Humans, Bow Down (with Emily Raymond)

The Black Book (with David Ellis)

Murder Games (with Howard Roughan)

Black Market

The Midnight Club

The Store (with Richard DiLallo)

BOOKSHOTS

Black & Blue (with Candice Fox)

Cross Kill

Private Royals (with Rees Jones)

The Trial (with Maxine Paetro)

Chase (with Michael Ledwidge)

French Kiss (with Richard DiLallo

Killer Chef (with Jeffrey J. Keyes)

The Christmas Mystery (with Richard DiLallo

Come and Get Us (with Shan Serafin)

Hidden (with James O. Born)

Malicious (with James O. Born)

French Twist (with Richard DiLallo)

The Exile (with Alison Joseph)

The End (with Brendan DuBois)

After the End (with Brendan DuBois)

The Shut-In (with Duane Swierczynski)

Private Gold (with Jassy Mackenzie)

Detective Cross

The Women’s War (with Shan Serafin)

Deadly Cargo (with Will Jordan)

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What you are holding in your hands right now is no ordinary book, it’s a BookShot.

BookShots are page-turning stories by James Patterson and other writers that can be read in one sitting.

Each and every one is fast-paced, 100% story-driven; a shot of pure entertainment guaranteed to satisfy.

Available as new, compact paperbacks, ebooks and audio, everywhere books are sold.

BookShots – the ultimate form of storytelling.
From the ultimate storyteller.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781786530554
Version 1.0

Published by BookShots 2017

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright © James Patterson 2017
Cover photography © Shutterstock

The BookShots name and logo are trademarks of JBP Business, LLC.

James Patterson has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published by BookShots in 2017

BookShots
The Penguin Random House Group Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA

www.penguin.co.uk

BookShots is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose
addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781786530561

Chapter 1

“So, Tim, how would you describe yourself in a single sentence?”

Friday lunch, and I was sitting across the table from Linda Kaplan, the president of one of the most successful advertising agencies in New York, Kaplan-Thaler. She’s in her mid-fifties, attractive, and exudes the confidence of well-deserved success.

I’m your typical New York adman, Madison Avenue through and through, but after a second stint at Paul Marterelli & Partners, I’d hit a wall. It was time to move on. Past time.

And at this lunch, it’s taking all I’ve got to stay in the moment. A lot of bad, crazy shit has come crashing down around me, and I’m trying to figure out what it all means.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.…

We’re at Soho House, a members-only restaurant, hotel, and spa down on 9th Avenue in the Meatpacking District. Linda Kaplan launched her agency in 1997 with the Herbal Essence shampoo “Yes! Yes! Yes!” campaign—think Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally—and never looked back. Now the agency is part of the Publicis Group, a global organization with the financial means to pay their people well. My headhunter hooked us up because Linda is looking for a co-partner and managing director to assume responsibility for all of the agency’s clients.

I’m getting a good vibe. The light in her eyes suggests she has a good sense of humor and doesn’t take life—real life—too damned seriously. Just her job.

This is a big deal. Our first interview. I want this job. A lot. Possibility of a 25 percent salary hike, plus bonus. I know I’m qualified, and so does she.

I’m wearing a necktie for the first time in years. I usually just wear jeans and a button-down to work, unless we have a client in or a new business pitch, but this meeting calls for a tie. Lots at stake here. And the damned thing feels like a noose tightening around my neck.

This was the day of the first murder. Somebody I knew. By the end of next week, my life will have changed forever.

Chapter 2

On bad days the advertising agency profession can get old fast. Especially with lousy clients. But this day is set to remind me why I got in this business in the first place.

We’re presenting a new campaign to a client who’s sat on the same advertising for five years: Chubb Insurance—Marterelli’s biggest client—has become one of those “unapproachable” insurance companies lost in the morass of indistinguishable brands in a category that’s competing on price, and little more. Worse, Chubb is premium priced. We’ve got a scary idea—the kind I love—to take Chubb to the next level. The plan is to confront consumers with the inevitability of some painful loss of assets during their lifetimes. Then we let them know that Chubb will be there to help, with a campaign built around humor to balance the grim forecast.

It’s enough to distract me from the real-life bullshit swirling all around me.

The meeting’s scheduled for eleven a.m. I’m in the office by eight; I stop by the break room, crank up the coffee pot, and head upstairs to go over some notes.

I’m wearing jeans, for sure—Ralph Laurens—pressed, and an oxford cloth open-collar long-sleeved shirt. Got my black-on-black brocade sports jacket slung over a chair, ready for the client. So I’m going formal. Cool New York formal.

“Hey, buenos dias, amigo.” It’s Ramon, our tech guy, at my cubicle door. A tall, dark, and handsome guy, as they say, with a bright, persistent smile on his face. “What’s up? And what am I doing here this early, you ask?”

“Looking for…?”

“No one. Just here to set you guys up in the conference room. Big meeting, huh?”

“Yeah, totally. But we’re ready to kick some client ass. Thanks, man, I’ll see you later.”

“Ciao.” I will definitely see Ramon later.

Back upstairs with my coffee. Now it’s Mary Claire Moriarty, my junior account leader—that’s what I like to call all of us account types. Early twenties, straight out of the Missouri School of Journalism, and she’s a terrific writer, too, so I’ve given her a small part in the pitch. It’s all about teamwork, and providing experience in the trenches for these bright up-and-comers.

“Good morning, sir,” she says. Her bright eyes are beaming. She’s a spark.

“MC, I keep telling you, no ‘sirs’ in this business—or anywhere else for that matter—except the military. Anyway, how are you? Ready to rock?”

“Yeah. Just wanted to thank you for the opportunity. Hope I don’t screw it up.”

“Girl, you won’t. I know you won’t. Now you need to know it. Got it?”

“Yeah, yes…yeah, I’ve got it, thanks. See you downstairs.”

My mind is wandering.…

Will we be through with this meeting in time for a late lunch?

It’s a sixty-minute meeting. Done. No wordy slides. No extraneous BS. We headline the pitch with an innovative brand strategy to convey that Chubb understands life’s risks, and can relate to customers’ needs. Two fabulous ideas, both on strategy: the one with the most potential upside scarier than the other.

Mary Claire describes the brand personality in the colorful language she authored herself.

Then our creative director reads the last scripted line from another satisfied Chubb customer appearing in the TV spot and turns to me for the capper, the tagline that will separate this client’s business from the rest of the category.…

I look the CMO in the eye and announce in my rehearsed voiceover “Insurance Against Regret”…and the room is as quiet as a funeral. For an instant. And then an uncommon reaction in the agency business: applause! Our clients are smiling from ear to ear, and clapping!

They buy it on the spot. Damn, I love this business.

“Tim,” said the Chubb CMO, Kevin Magnus, shaking my hand, “you’ve just reminded me in dramatic fashion why I hired you guys in the first place. Send me the summary and a production estimate, and let’s get it done!”

My team hears all this and responds with enthusiastic, polite applause of their own. The client’s not out the front door before we’re gathering into a group hug, backslaps all around.

“Guys, this is the result of some fabulous teamwork. Never forget that. Together, we make shit happen.

“Now, get your asses back to work!” I say with a broad smile, which is returned in kind by every one of them.

Perfect timing for a lunch break. And I think I’ve earned a long one.

Chapter 3

By the time I get back, it’s four-ish, and the proverbial cocktail hour is within reach.

“Well done, MacGhee!” Paul Marterelli is at my door before I can get my jacket off. “Magnus just called me to say how excited he is about the possibilities! I’ve never heard him so enthusiastic. Must have been great. Obviously he bought the big one.…”

“Absolutely. Thanks, Paul, really appreciate it. It’s days like today that remind me why I came back to work with you,” I tell him. Hey, I’m an adman.

“Wanna grab a beverage?”

“Damn, man, would love to. Can’t. Got plans.”

“Ah, okay, see you tomorrow,” Paul says, and heads downstairs.

I first met Paul Marterelli right out of the Marines. With my Columbia journalism degree there was only one gig for me: adman! Soon enough some good networking connected me with Paul, and we clicked instantly.

Paul was a creative guy, a writer, and a good one. Clean-cut, glasses, conservative dresser; would have assumed he was an account guy if you didn’t know better. Met him the first time downtown at McSorley’s. We hung out, had beers, told stories. Tells me he’s got the CrawDaddy account, an up-and-coming tech company, with their kick-ass cowboy CEO—an ex-Marine!—and wants my own Marine self to take him on. Perfect—at least for an advertising moment. More on that later.