Deadline Man

by Jon Talton

Book Overview

He's a man we know only as "the columnist." He writes for a newspaper in Seattle, isn't afraid to stir up trouble, and keeps his life--including his multiple lovers and his past--in safe compartments. But it's all about to be violently upended when he goes out on what seems like the most mundane of assignments, looking into a staid company that "never makes news."

The moment one of his sources takes a dive off a downtown skyscraper, the columnist...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590587235
• ISBN13: 9781590587232
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Gripping thriller wrapped around a newspaper tale

A tightly written thriller with an urgent message: What could be finer? Anyone aghast at what's happening to the news-- 40,000 U.S. newspaper jobs lost last year -- and what that means for democracy (no, blogs have not made up for the bleeding) will love Talton's latest book featuring the daily life and work of a business columnist in Seattle, which he happens to be. Written in Talton's gripping style, "Deadline Man" gives the inside scoop on covering the most powerful interests in the country -- not politicians, but businesses -- while friends and lovers keep turning up dead. Aside from being entertained, we should listen to what Talton's saying.

wayyyy over the top thriller

Deadline Man by Talton starts off as a very engaging story. I'd give the first half five stars. Its a pretty cool conspiracy story that wraps itself around a philandering business reporter. The writing is good enough so that your immediately sucked into a very interesting life. That of Troy Hardesty, the reporter. The book starts off with an interview Hardesty is undertaking with a long time informant/powerful hedge fund manager. He is told about a company that seems to be doing things it shouldn't be. When Hardesty leaves the building, he is almost hit by the informant as he leaps from the building from 20 stories up. The rest of the story revolves around Hardesty trying to uncover what the heck is going on with this company, Hardesty encountering a thuggish branch of the government who want information, the sale of his paper, and many many lovers. The first sign that this story is a little over the top is Hardestys ability to juggle 3-4 beautiful lovers at the same time. He's a little too much like James Bond and not enough like the financial editorial-ist that he's supposed to be. Eventually his background history fleshes out and he becomes sort of a ridiculous character. Other supporting characters become parodies of themselves as well. Sadly I can't go into this or I'd be giving away the plot. The group he is investigating and the conspiracy that is uncovered are beyond silly. Yet, I am still giving this book 4 stars. Its good enough for that. Talton is a great writer. I look forwards to what he will be publishing next. I just hope that he puts a lid on it and that its not so sensational. It doesn't have to be.

He has done it again!!

Another fine, captivating, attention grabbing story by one of my favorite Authors. I have waited for Jon's next book to come out, and he has NOT disappointed me with "Deadline Man". Thank you Jon..

exhilarating thriller

The Seattle Free Press newspaper Columnist meets with an occasional source hedge fund manager Troy Hardesty. After completing the discussion that mentioned something called "Eleven-Eleven, the Columnist leaves. Outside the downtown office building, an explosion occurs as Troy falls 20 stories from the balcony of his office. At the Free Press, the Columnist learns the paper is near bankruptcy and will either be sold or closed within two months. He is unconcerned though newspaper is his blood. Instead he thinks of his love life until a streetwalker screams at him: "Eleven-eleven." Another death occurs with the victim having Eleven-eleven etched on his ankle. Soon afterward men claiming to be Feds demand the Columnist tell them what Troy told him. The Columnist and cub reporter Amber Burke investigate Eleven-eleven as a deadline approaches. The Deadline Man is an exhilarating thriller that grips the audience from the moment Hardesty dives twenty stories and never slows down throughout until the climax. The subplot of a dying newspaper augments the tale with a sense of reality. Well-written, this tense tale will hook fans who, like the reporters, will need to know what is Eleven-eleven. Harriet Klausner

Fantastic Mystery Deserves 5+

You know how some books are called page-turners? Well, Deadline Man, by Jon Talton, is what I've coined a "read-faster!" I don't really know whether it was the writing, his style, the main character's profession, or the suspenseful mystery, but I found myself moving faster and faster across the words to see what was going to happen next! Fantastic! He was now a well-read Business Financial columnist, having worked himself up from writing obits at Seattle Free Press, a privately owned newspaper that had, under its previous leader been a strong contender in being first in hard news on major issues. However, on her death, the family was interested only in getting their money and if that meant selling the newspaper, then so be it. One of the problems they faced, however, was that there might not be any buyers, given the declining industry. And it was just a routine interview with Hardesty, whose hedge fund had just invested $75M into a new startup, which he was enjoying, when everything started to go south. He had merely tried to gain new material for his column and picked out a company, Olympic International, that had not been highlighted for many years. But later he would push to remember everything that had happened that day. --He had heard on the news immediately before the interview that Megan Nyberg, a teenager, was missing. --He was still thinking about his previous night with Pam, while Troy teased him about being involved with Rachel Summers. Actually he normally had three or four lovers at any given time... --A blond had shoved past him as he was leaving; he remembered her later when she was trying to kill him. --Troy Henderson fell from his high-rise terrace immediately after he had left! --During the interview, Troy had asked him casually whether he had ever heard of eleven-eleven... And then he wrote his first column on Olympic International... After that, he was running for his life as men who professed to be FBI pursued him, a prostitute yells after him, "eleven-eleven--you'll get yours!" And he finds himself in bed with Pam, who is dead. Needless to say, I loved this one. I enjoyed learning about the newspaper business mechanics, such as the lede spelling change, and empathize with the individual employees as they feared losing their job and considered what they would do. Talton has shared a real-time issue with readers as he has also given us a beautifully entwined mystery that keeps readers guessing, but meticulously comes together as if the author had created a tapestry! This is a must-read for mystery lovers...well above a 1-5 ranking, earning a 9 or 10 in my opinion! Let me know if you agree! Book Provided Through Net Galley by Publisher G. A. Bixler