JOHN NETTI

Be forewarned. Amid this intense, nail-biting, heart-pounding, serial-killer thriller, John Netti will make you tear up and, in some incidences, even make you full-on cry. His characters are so realistic that I quickly bonded with them. The story is emotional and fully engaging. Mr. Netti explores the darker side of the human spirit and that indefinable something that makes humans special. This is the first novel by Mr. Netti that I have read, but I will be actively looking for others to add to my library. I highly recommend his writing.

It's just a ledger. So why are people dying to find it?

During a conference in D.C., retired detective Maddy Reynolds receives a message from a mysterious caller who insists on meeting with her. Maddy, intrigued, follows through, but when she reaches the rendezvous site, she comes upon the wreck of a terrible accident. The victim: her would-be informer. Just what had he intended to tell her?

Back at her home in the Adirondacks, Maddy takes a terrified young woman under her wing, only to witness her death at the hands of a hitman. Maddy dispatches the killer but is left with the question: What ties these three people together?

The answer is a ledger book she discovers hidden inside her home; it contains a complete accounting of all the bigwigs who did business with a vicious human trafficking organization. People will kill to recover this, she thinks and realizes they already have. While trying to preserve the Ledger's vital information — and to avoid becoming the next target — Maddy finds herself pitted against a ruthless assassin, a relentless sociopath, and members of the Mob.

The Ledger weaves a tale of nonstop action and danger, all at a lightning pace. You'll read it more than once just to re-experience the excitement.

Every now and then I read a novel that is just about flawless in its concept and execution, and that is indeed the case with The Glades. It's clear that John Netti has put a lot of thought into the flow of his story, the timing involved, and the rise of suspense that runs throughout the work. But that's not all. The characters are engrossing and well-defined, especially the protagonist, Maddy Reynolds, a retired police detective. The plot builds quickly, and the pace is brisk throughout.

The story begins with Maddy's attempt to build a new life for herself in the Adirondack mountains, a task that is more complicated than she imagines. When she meets Avery Jordan, a wealthy playboy who owns a magnificent mountain-top resort called The Glades, she cannot understand why someone of his background is so interested in her. But what exactly is his background? Why is the Glades virtually closed to the public for most of the year? When locals go missing and turn up dead, Maddy is hard-pressed to put the pieces of this puzzle together. Is it all a matter of coincidence? Or something much, much more sinister?

A troubled young man named Hector tries to help her unravel the mystery of The Glades, but only succeeds in putting his life — and Maddy's — in danger. The Glades is a spellbinding potboiler that keeps readers holding their breath up to the very end.

This author pulls you into the story and doesn't let you go till the end. It is fast paced, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and trying to guess what is going to happen next. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys mystery, suspense, and thrillers.

John Netti has thrilled readers once again with The Ledger, the continuing story of Maddy Reynolds in the aftermath of The Glades, wherein Maddy shut down a sex trafficking operation run by Avery Jordan in New York State's Adirondacks.

Jordan's record of the high level clients he served, his ledger, is the focus and the object of the novel. Once again, Netti has captured the danger, the fear, and the excitement of the criminal chase. Just as our hero Maddy is drawn into the search for the ledger by a newspaper headline, we are drawn into her adventure through our curiosity and concern.

After a seven-year respite from detective work, Maddy returns to The Glades and to the record of atrocities that took place there: “I can't believe I feel the need to do this again. It's who I am. I wish it could have been different, but it's the way it is.”

From here we join Maddy as she delves into the mystery of the ledger and the safety of Adam, her boyfriend. As we move from Syracuse to San Antonio to Washington with Maddy, we meet new characters and revisit characters we know from The Glades, most notably, the albino Naomi White, Jordan's evil partner who is willing to kill to keep the ledger; but also FBI Special Agent Hanna Bates who is as intent as Maddy to find it.

Once again, Netti has woven compelling characters, old and new, into a tightly woven mystery and our favorite detective into a can't-put-down story.

John Netti's second novel, The Glades, follows detective Maddy Reynolds from his first novel Cupid into her retirement at a newly-built home in New York's Adirondack Mountains. Netti shows us that fate can't be denied and that evil is everywhere, even in the pristine nature of Upstate New York.

The action picks up right away as Maddy concludes her last case from the Utica Police Department despite her attempt to leave the world of murder and danger behind. Tension builds immediately on November 10, 1983, and continues through the conclusion in November 1984. Time is marked by dates before each chapter, moving back and forth through time and place. Using this device, Netti introduces disparate events and characters met in Cupid: Amber, Jody, Maddy's Utica colleagues, and introduces new characters, brother and sister Hector and AJ, beautiful albino Naomi, and the ambitious criminal entrepreneur, Avery Jordan. Naomi and Avery run The Glades, an exclusive private club on a mountain top near Maddy's new home. Thoroughly evil, Jordan has sold his soul at the Crossroads; his time has almost expired. At The Glades, power, money, and sex are meant to pay off his contract.

Piece by piece, Netti weaves these characters into a complete narrative of sex trafficking, corrupt politicians, murder, and the inevitable draw of righteousness and justice. As the story unfolds, the tension builds, and the reader eagerly reads to find out what will happen to the characters we care for and the ones we abhor. The pace is quick, making the book hard to put down: who will die, who will survive, will justice be served?

These questions are resolved through Netti's fast-paced storytelling, the characters he creates, and reflections on good versus evil. Maddy's father's badge is her talisman which compels her, perhaps even fates her, to fight for justice, to right wrongs, to defeat evil, for “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here,” as Netti quotes Shakespeare at the outset of this novel.

The Glades is an exciting and compelling read, although one wonders why a self-reliant single woman must find romance as the narrative concludes. Perhaps the connection between Maddy and Adam is the setup for John Netti's next novel, which his readers look forward to.

This is an absolutely gripping thriller read. I was on the edge of my seat. Interesting characters. I highly recommend this book.