Since Gabriel Cohen's entrance onto the crime fiction scene, he has wowed critics and readers alike with his atmospheric, emotionally-driven novels. The Ninth Step is his most ambitious yet. Homicide detective Jack Leightner's brother was killed in a mugging in 1965, an incident Jack always blamed on himself. Now a stranger tells him that he was a member of a gang that had been hired by a local Mafioso to mug the two boys. The man doesn't know why. The next morning, Jack is investigating a murder in a local deli by a Pakistani man. A security camera taped the assault, and Jack is confident he will soon wrap up the case. Then Homeland Security steps in, saying the man is an Islamic fundamentalist wanted for terrorist activity. Jack struggles to stay in the loop, while also seeking the true cause of his brother's death.

Genre: Mystery