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"Better than anyone else in the business....I've been a huge John Maxim fan for years...Bannerman's Ghosts had made me almost paranoid about bio-terrorism." Linda Howard "John Maxim is superb...and Bannerman is dynamite." Iris Johansen "Wonderful...remarkably fresh and thoroughly entertaining." Nelson DeMille BANNERMAN'S GHOSTS A long awaited package has finally arrived at the fortified estate of billionaire sociopath Artemus Bourne. But instead of containing the anticipated biological nightmare one of his off-shore firms had created, inside are three severed human heads. An act of vengeance by a man long though dead has set in motion a drama too terrifying to imagine - one that will ensnare ex-government assassin Paul Bannerman and his "ghosts, operatives thought dead but actually lying low in suburban Connecticut, hoping to put their bloody pasts behind them.For Bannerman and his people cannot sit idly by as a maniac who hungers for ultimate power - and possesses the wealth and weapons to achieve his terribly aims - obliterates the lives of the innocent. But the clock is ticking rapidly down to Armageddon. And if he makes one wrong move, everything that breathes in Bannerman's world will die. From Publishers Weekly Travelers to Westport, Conn., should keep an eye open for unusual characters. That distinguished old gent who runs an antique shop? He's an ex-KGB colonel. That red-haired woman whose bookstore sells a lot of Harry Potters? She's a professional killer who likes to blow up trucks and planes. And the owners of a popular restaurant, a quaint bed-and-breakfast, a home security firm? They're all former assassins for the U.S. government, possessed of various violent skills that they're ready to exercise once again if their boss, Paul Bannerman-who runs a travel agency on the Boston Post Road-gives the word. We encounter them all again as thriller veteran Maxim takes up his successful series where Bannerman's Promise left off. Artemus Bourne, who puts the "arch" in "arch villain," is straight out of Ian Fleming-a fabulously wealthy and powerful smuggler, currently involved in the dirty African diamond business, who can't seem to hire good help. Bourne wants revenge on an Angolan rebel, Alameo, who messily beheaded three of Bourne's aides. Bourne knows that Alameo is really a former East German (and Bannerman colleague) named Martin Kessler, long believed to be dead. To trap Kessler, Bourne needs Kessler's lover, Elizabeth Stride, a legendary assassin called the Black Angel. Stride is also supposed to be dead, but in fact she's another of Bannerman's "ghosts" in retirement in Westport-and Bannerman may have to marshal some of his own deadly skills to protect her. The entertaining-if somewhat ludicrous-plot involves a good deal of hokum, blarney and old-fashioned excitement. Maxim's fans are in for more fun. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In this new installment to the Bannerman series, psychotic billionaire Artemus Bourne gets more than he bargained for when he finds himself on the wrong side of some "retired" government operatives. Bourne's global business empire encompasses diamonds, arms smuggling, and the manufacture of "weapons grade" viral agents. But an Angolan rebel leader by the name of Alameo, former East German agent Martin Kessler, has brought all of Bourne's nefarious schemes to a halt by holding his bioweapon lab hostage. In a desperate effort, Bourne decides to find and take hostage Kessler's ex-lover, Elizabeth Stride. All former assassin Stride wants is some peace and quiet, but when her tranquil Hilton Head neighborhood is invaded by Bourne's heavy-handed thugs, she seeks the assistance of old friend Paul Bannerman and his associates. Death, destruction, and general mayhem soon follow in their wake as they set out to bring Bourne to justice. With a convoluted plot reminiscent of Robert Ludlum (before he began writing from beyond the grave), this tightly wound thriller will appeal to both espionage and general suspense readers . Kaite Mediatore Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved ϡ쯦랠