About the Author

John Verdon, a former Manhattan advertising executive, lives with his wife on a small hilltop in upstate New York. His first two Dave Gurney novels are Think of a Number and Shut Your Eyes Tight.

Reviews

Written with pace, style, intelligence, teasing puzzles and lots of tension.The number I'm thinking of is 1!
*Reginald Hill*

Addictive and thoroughly engrossing . . . this tale will grab hold of you like a steel jaw trap
*Joseph Finder*

Spectacular and mind-bending . . . the best thriller I've read in a long, long time. John Verdon's writing is so polished, so nuanced, it makes me envious that I didn't write this terrific novel
*Tess Gerritsen*

John Verdon has written a flawless novel about flawed people and he's written it beautifully
*Nelson DeMille*

With its edge-of-the-chair suspense, memorable characters that jump off the pages, and elegant and deft writing, John Verdon's Think of a Number is a stunning debut
*Faye Kellerman*

One of the finest thrillers I've read in years. I devoured it. In a genre frequently and sadly known for delivering more of the same old familiar stuff, Think of a Number stands out as original and exciting
*John Katzenbach*

Simply one of the best thrillers I've read in a lifetime of thriller reading - eloquent, heart-rending, deeply suspenseful on many levels, and relentlessly intelligent. Absolutely not to be missed!
*John Lescroart*

The numbers game gets a murderous spin in Verdon's deft, literate debut. Recently retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney is an old warhorse much too easily led to water, in the view of his increasingly disenchanted wife, who insists it's now me-time. But it surprises neither of them that Gurney snaps at the lure when a beleaguered friend sets before him a tasty, number-driven puzzle. Mark Mellery has been receiving mysterious mailings that terrify him because he's convinced the author of them can somehow read his mind, and because the mailings threaten his death for crimes he can't recall having committed. Nor is Mellery the only one, it soon become evident, as a particularly malignant serial killer buckles down to business. Ever the puzzle master, Gurney tracks and unravels each clue until-in an attenuated denouement that constitutes one of this thriller's rare self-indulgences-he finally makes the numbers add up. (July) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Dave Gurney, a recently retired NYPD homicide detective, finds himself drawn into a weird case involving a college classmate he barely remembers. Mark Mellery, now a New Age guru, has received threatening poems apparently sent by a clairvoyant psycho bent on revenge for an unknown crime. As Gurney works to decipher the poems' clues, the killer strikes. Well known in his time for having tracked down other serial killers, Gurney becomes a consultant to the New York State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation. How could the psycho know ahead of time what number between one and 1000 Mellery and subsequent victims would pick? And why does the killer's hate extend to Gurney and the police? Complicating matters is the strained relationship between Gurney and his wife, who clearly expected more of the husband and less of the detective when the couple retired to rural upstate New York. VERDICT A former Manhattan ad executive, Verdon spins an engrossing web of baffling puzzles. Add these enigmas to the novel's other features-a compellingly introspective protagonist, minutely observed subtleties of character, a strong narrative pull-and you have an outstanding debut, sure to enchant a wide range of readers. [150,000-copy first printing.]-Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.