Product Description <br/>"Guaranteed: you'll devour this yarn-burner in one sitting."NEW YORK DAILY NEWSJohn Stefanovich, a tough New York cop, has one mission in life--to nab Alexandre St. Germain, the most treacherous and powerful member of the Midnight Club--a secret international society whose membership is limited to an elite group of ruthless crime czars, all of whom are "respectable" businessmen. Blasted by St. Germain's shotgun, Stef is left in a wheelchair, but no less determined. With the help of a beautiful journalist and a Harlem cop, Stef is determined to crack the Midnight Club And he's up against odds that are as unknown as they are deadly....<br/> From Publishers Weekly <br/>Edgar-winner Patterson ( The Jericho Commandment )he is also chairman of J. Walter Thompson USAalmost captures the slick, conspiracy-theory giddiness of pre- Prizzi Richard Condon. While leading a raid against top drug-dealer Alexandre ("the Grave Dancer") St.-Germain, New York police Lieutenant John ("Stef") Stefanovitch is caught in a devastating ambush and crippled. French-born St.-Germain, enforcing and enjoying his harsh, "street law" terror, kills Stef's wife. Two years later St.-Germain is gunned down in a posh Manhattan brothel. Hidden videotapes catch St.-Germain asking, "Is it the Midnight Club?" Wheelchair-bound Stef, with true-crime bestselling writer Sarah McGinniss, starts to uncover an international crime cartel making billions a year, and a secret NYPD execution squad. Plenty of gore, many plot twistssome quite murkyand a little sex will keep readers turning pages up to the melodramatic, rather unlikely ending. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.<br/>Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.<br/> From AudioFile <br/>Robert Forster is so relaxed that he makes oatmeal seem adventurous. Further, his western New York accent, which turns the word "absolutely" into "EBsolutely," is distracting. Together, these qualities don't seem like the best match with the cops-and-crime world of James Patterson. But Forster, who truly is a talented actor, ultimately triumphs. By the time Patterson wraps up this adventure, which pits a wheelchair-bound NYPD detective and his book-writing girlfriend, against a secret society of high-level mobsters, Forster proves his worth. Patterson has created several plot lines that ultimately converge in scenes of well-drawn tension, and no one translates such tension better than Forster. D.W. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine<br/> About the Author <br/>James B. Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an award-winning American author. Formerly an advertising executive for J. W. Thompson in the early 1990s, Patterson came up with the slogan "Toys R Us Kid". Shortly after his success with Along Came A Spider he retired from the firm and devoted his time to writing. The novels featuring his character, Alex Cross, a black forensic psychologist formerly of the Washington, D.C. Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, now working as a private psychologist and government consultant, are the most popular books among Patterson readers. James Patterson has been criticized by Stephen King, who called Patterson's books "dopey thrillers".[citation needed] Patterson shrugged off the comments, stating that he wants to be the "thrillingest thriller writer of all time".[citation needed] James Patterson has also been put as one of Forbes magazine's top 100 celebrities.<br/> From the Inside Flap <br/>"Guaranteed: you'll devour this yarn-burner in one sitting."<br/>NEW YORK DAILY NEWS<br/>John Stefanovich, a tough New York cop, has one mission in life--to nab Alexandre St. Germain, the most treacherous and powerful member of the Midnight Club--a secret international society whose membership is limited to an elite group of ruthless crime czars, all of whom are "respectable" businessmen. Blasted by St. Germain's shotgun, Stef is left in a wheelchair, but no less determined. With the help of a beautiful j