13 1/2 - Softcover

Barr, Nevada

3.38

4,106 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593155913 ISBN 13: 9781593155919

Publisher: Vanguard Press Inc, 2010

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With 13 � , Nevada Barr, New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Anna Pigeon novels, has written a taut and terrifying psychological thriller. It carries the reader from horrifying 1970's murder spree of a child-dubbed"Butcher Boy” by a shocked public- in Rochester, Minnesota, to Polly, the abused daughter of Mississippi"trailer trash,” to post-Katrina New Orleans. In Jackson Square in the French Quarter, a tarot card reader told Polly Deschamps she would be a success. Thirty years later, Polly is a respected professor of literature with good friends and her own home- a safe life for her and her two daughters. Butcher Boy, released on his seventeenth birthday, shook the snow from his boots and headed south. New Orleans, a Mecca for runaways then and now, offers sanctuary but never forgiveness. When Polly falls in love with Marshall Marchland, a restoration architect who is helping to rebuild her adopted city, shadows of the past rise out of the poisoned ground of New Orleans as thick and deadly as the toxic waters of the flood. Like history, some crimes are doomed to repeat themselves. Evil stays the same only the victims' names change. As two broken pasts collide in an uncertain present, Polly is determined that her children's names will never be on that list.

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Review:

Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of Roadside Crosses
"This book is a hands-down winner! Psychological terror at its best, 13 1/2 shines with authentic voices, high-amp tension, and Barr's brilliant and unique style."

Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author
"Stunning ... spellbinding psychological suspense with twists you won't see coming ... an amazing, virtuoso piece of writing."

Library Journal
“Keep the lights on while reading this intense psychological thriller. The tension’s so tight you’ll be rethinking every motive and clue up to the finale. Much like Nancy Pickard in The Virgin of Small Plains, Barr forces us to look beyond the obvious to the hidden evils we may have overlooked.”

Delta Magazine
“...terrifying...page-turning....”

Romantic Times, 4 stars
“...a hair-raising thriller.... packs a powerful punch.”

Booklist
“Barr process adept at both pulsing horror and sweet romance.... [for] readers who like dark psychological thrillers.”

Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Barr skillfully shows her affinity for delving into her characters' souls in 13 �. Barr keeps the psychological terror elevated in 13 � by realistically showing how people can be manipulated - by others and by the juvenile justice system.”

New Orleans Magazine
“13 � is a glorified thriller that will tease and please lovers of the genre...”

Charlotte Observer
“Barr's vibrant prose keeps you reading....irresistible.”

Denver Post
“Reminiscent of novels by Thomas Harris and Minette Walters....will send shivers up the spine of even the toughest reader....Barr adds interstitial musings about well-known murders throughout history that are so stone-cold they could make Hannibal Lector blanch in fear.”

Providence Journal
“...a brilliantly harrowing effort.... 13 � feels better written and more richly drawn than Barr's very good Anna Pigeon efforts. Certainly a new direction and one that takes her on a genre-bending course to evil and depravity in this downright chilling tale.”

Oregonian
“Barr's smooth storytelling style keeps the tension at a heart-pounding level...”

From the Back Cover:

In 1971, the state of Minnesota was rocked when coverage of the "Butcher Boy", who brutally murdered his own family, swept across newspapers and television screens nationwide. Now, in present-day New Orleans, Polly Deschamps finds herself at yet another lonely crossroads in her life. No stranger to tragedy, Polly was a runaway at the age of fifteen, escaping a nightmarish Mississippi childhood.

But then Polly encounters architect Marshall Marchand and is immediately smitten. Marshall is handsome, charming and intelligent, and before long, even Polly's daughters from her previous marriage love him. Inevitably, they marry. As Polly begins to settle into her new life, she becomes uneasy about her husband's increasing dark moods. And then there's the ominous prediction by a New Orleans tarot card reader that says Polly will murder her husband. Could Marshall and his eccentric brother, Danny, be keeping a dark secret from Polly, one that will shatter the happiness she so desperately wants?

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