THE SHARK’s main character Riley Tatum is a survivor of a serial killer known as the Shark, who murdered young runaway girls as part of a sadistic poker game. Though drugged and battered, the younger Riley escaped this killer and went on to build a successful life.
Now Riley is a Virginia State Police trooper and is a highly respected police canine tracker. She and her canine partner are often tasked to follow the scents of missing people as well as escaped criminals in the mountains of rural Virginia. They are considered one of the best teams in the region.
What was the idea that sparked THE SHARK? I was attending a writer’s conference years ago and a young woman stopped as I was signing books. She suggested that I make a female uniformed officer the hero of my next book. People toss ideas at me all the time, but this one stuck. It didn’t take long before I could see Riley Tatum.
I began researching possible jobs for Riley, and I finally settled on a canine tracker. Then it was a matter of learning all I could about this profession. Books, mystery writers’ meetings and interviews with active-duty canine officers all offered clues into what made Riley tick.
Once I had her job, I had to wonder why a person would search for the missing. The answer to that question required digging into Riley’s past. Who was she? What made her choose her current job? Of course, there was a dark element in Riley’s past and that’s when the suspense plot unfolded.
Riley’s dangerous encounter with a serial killer years ago races to the present in THE SHARK when a runaway in her jurisdiction is murdered. Immediately, Riley notices striking similarities between the victim and herself. As Riley delves deeper into the case, she not only remembers the dark days when she was a homeless teen, but she finds herself back in the crosshairs of the dangerous predator known as “The Shark.”
To stop the killer, Riley must confront her own fears and work alongside an enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Clay Bowman, now the managing partner of Shield Securities. Clay, Riley’s ex-lover, is determined to protect her from this sadistic killer. Riley who’s learned to rely only on herself discovers her attraction to Clay has not waned since their breakup. Is risking her heart again for Clay worth the potential heartbreak?
As the Shark gets ready to play his hand, can Riley and Clay stop him—or will this killer finally claim the one who got away?
THE SHARK is the first of my “Forgotten Files” series, a collection of romantic suspense novels that also includes THE DOLLMAKER and THE HANGMAN. And I’m thrilled to announce my first book for Amazon Publishing is now available in mass market paperback via Kensington Publishing.
I hope you enjoy THE SHARK. I was captivated by the heroine Riley from the moment that young woman at the conference suggested I write a different kind of heroine.
THE SHARK by Mary Burton
Forgotten Files #1
A state trooper’s teenage runaway past comes back to haunt her in the first of USA Today bestselling author Mary Burton’s heart-stopping Forgotten Files Trilogy. Now in mass market paperback!
At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum’s past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on the streets. She has no memories of what happened, only strange recurring dreams of two men playing cards.
Former FBI agent Clay Bowman, Riley’s old flame, is Shield Security’s newest member. He’s plagued by the unsolved case of a serial killer nicknamed the Shark who murdered girls as part of a sadistic poker game. Only one girl survived. With the Shark now bent on settling that score, Clay has a chilling suspicion: Riley is the girl who escaped the Shark’s deadly amusement—and she is his next prey.
As the Shark gets ready to play his hand, can Riley and Clay stop him—or will this killer finally claim the one who got away?
Romance Suspense | Suspense Women Sleuth [Zebra, On Sale: June 27, 2023, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book (reprint), ISBN: 9781420155990 / ]
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About Mary Burton
Mary Burton loves writing suspense, getting to know her characters, keeping up with law enforcement and forensic procedures, morning walks, baking, and tiny dachshunds. She also enjoys hunting down serial killers, which she does in her New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels. Library Journal has compared her work to that of Lisa Jackson and Lisa Gardner, and Fresh Fiction likened her writing to that of James Patterson. When it comes to research, she’s known for taking a hands-on approach, whether it means interviewing professionals, attending forensic seminars or studying evidence collection and analysis.
Mary is routinely featured among the top ten writers in Amazon’s Author Rankings for suspense, romantic suspense and thrillers. Her recent titles The Lies I Told, Don’t Look Now, Near You, Never Look Back, I See You, and Hide and Seek consistently rank high on the Kindle eBooks Store Bestseller List. She is a 2019 Montlake Romance Diamond Award winner signifying she’s reached one million readers.
Formerly a Richmond, Virginia native, Mary now resides on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She’s a graduate of Virginia’s Hollins University and she worked in marketing before her first book was published in 2000. Today she’s the author of thirty-seven published novels and five novellas as Mary Burton and nine works of contemporary fiction as Mary Ellen Taylor, including Winter Cottage, Spring House, Honeysuckle Season, and the upcoming The Brighter the Light.
She is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Novelists, Inc. When not on the road for research or visits with readers at bookstores, book festivals and conferences, Mary remains very much a homebody. She and her husband spend time alternately enjoying their empty nest and spoiling their four-legged babies Buddy, Bella and Tiki.
Men of the Texas Rangers | Morgans of Nashville | Forgotten Files | Criminal Profiler
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