At the start of this suspenseful, expertly paced thriller from bestseller Barclay (Elevator Pitch), two people identifying themselves as police bang on the door of 21-year-old Todd Cox, who runs phone scams targeting the elderly out of his trailer home near Springfield, Mass. Eager to appear innocent, Cox lets them in, only to discover they're frauds. The fake cops inject Cox with a lethal drug before sealing him in a body bag and sanitizing the place and the surrounding area. One of them comments, "Two down. Seven to go." Flash back three weeks. Miles Cookson, a Connecticut software millionaire, has been diagnosed with incurable Huntington's disease. As Huntington's is genetic, Cookson decides to use his affluence to bribe a desperate employee of the sperm bank he donated to decades earlier to trace any possible children, both to warn them that they may carry fatal genes and to name them in his will. The list he gets contains nine names, including Cox's, hinting at a link to the initial homicide. Barclay makes even secondary characters feel real. Fans of Daniel Palmer will be pleased. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (May)

Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has just learned that he has only a few months to live after being diagnosed with a terminal genetic illness. He's single and has no heirs, but learns that he may have fathered nine children; years earlier, when he was broke and struggling, Miles had donated sperm to a clinic. He decides to divide his fortune among the children and sets out to find them. When he reveals his intentions to his brother and sister-in-law, they are extremely angered by his decision. Soon, Miles meets one of his children, a young waitress and aspiring filmmaker named Chloe Swanson. Their joyous reunion soon turns deadly when the pair discover that someone is hunting down and killing Miles's potential heirs. Who is after his money, and why? VERDICT Barclay (Elevator Pitch) deftly twists and turns all these characters into a taut and engrossing thriller that will keep readers guessing until the end. A definite must-read for fans of Harlan Coben, Jason Pinter, or Christopher Swann.--Bill Anderson, Scott County Public Library, Scottsburg, IN