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Title details for Iron House by John Hart - Available

Iron House

A Novel

by John Hart
Scott Sowers
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available

An old man is dying.
When the old man is dead they will come for him.
And they will come for her, to make him hurt.
John Hart has written three New York Times bestsellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. His books have been called "masterful" (Jeffery Deaver) and "gripping" (People) with "Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding" (The New York Times). Now he delivers his fourth novel—a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thriller no reader will soon forget.
HE WOULD GO TO HELL
At the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, there was nothing but time. Time to burn and time to kill, time for two young orphans to learn that life isn't won without a fight. Julian survives only because his older brother, Michael, is fearless and fiercely protective. When tensions boil over and a boy is brutally killed, there is only one sacrifice left for Michael to make: He flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him.
TO KEEP HER SAFE
For two decades, Michael has been an enforcer in New York's world of organized crime, a prince of the streets so widely feared he rarely has to kill anymore. But the life he's fought to build unravels when he meets Elena, a beautiful innocent who teaches him the meaning and power of love. He wants a fresh start with her, the chance to start a family like the one he and Julian never had. But someone else is holding the strings. And escape is not that easy. . . .
GO TO HELL, AND COME BACK BURNING
The mob boss who gave Michael his blessing to begin anew is dying, and his son is intent on making Michael pay for his betrayal. Determined to protect the ones he loves, Michael spirits Elena—who knows nothing of his past crimes, or the peril he's laid at her door— back to North Carolina, to the place he was born and the brother he lost so long ago. There, he will encounter a whole new level of danger, a thicket of deceit and violence that leads inexorably to the one place he's been running from his whole life: Iron House.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 12, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427212245
      • File size: 432850 KB
      • Duration: 15:01:46

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 16, 2011
      This rich, impressive contemporary thriller from two-time Edgar-winner Hart (The Last Child) focuses on two brothers, Michael and Julian, both raised and abused at the Iron House of the title, an orphanage in the mountains of North Carolina. As a boy, Michael flees the place and ends up on the streets of New York City, where Otto Kaitlin, "the most powerful crime boss in recent memory," rescues him and fashions him into an accomplished killing machine and a surrogate son. When Kaitlin dies, his real son, Stevan, fueled by a mixture of jealousy and greed, sets out to destroy everything the now grownup Michael has. Stevan kidnaps Michael's girlfriend, Elena, and threatens emotionally fragile Julian, a creative, tortured genius who is now living at the North Carolina mansion of his adoptive parents. Hart deftly interweaves a complex family history story with Stevan's intense, bloody quest for vengeance. Though the book occasionally feels overplotted, its powerful themes and its beautiful prose will delight Hart's fansâand should earn him many new ones. 200,000 first printing; author tour.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 25, 2011
      Hart's ambitious new thrillerâa unique mixture of Dickensian plotting, violent action, and hardboiled attitudeâbenefits from Scott Sowers's relentless narration. The novel follows Michael, an oddly moral hit man who's on the run (with his pregnant girlfriend in tow) from his former mob associates. The sadistic criminals are seeking revenge and hunting for a treasure that once belonged to their recently departed mob boss. Meanwhile, Michael is searching for his frail brother, Julian, whom he has not seen since their childhood, which was spent in the grim Iron House orphanage in the mountains of North Carolina. Michael's quest leads him to a compound belonging to Julian's wealthy and powerful foster parents, where he uncovers the corpses of other Iron House orphans. Sowers's rat-a-tat delivery captures the spirit of the novel, complimenting Hart's clean prose, maintaining suspense, and clarifying the book's complex backstory. A Thomas Dunne hardcover.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Scott Sowers's dramatic style and husky voice heighten the tension in this thriller about two brothers with physical and emotional scars from childhood abuse they experienced at Iron House orphanage. Michael's girlfriend Elena's pregnancy sets him on a treacherous path to end his life as a Mob hit man and give his child a chance for a good life. Brother Julian's inner darkness permeates his work as a writer of children's books and undermines his ability to function. A mobster plays on their shared Iron House history to avenge his personal losses and thwart the brothers' hopes for normal lives. Sowers clearly communicates the complex emotions of the characters. He deftly uses accents to distinguish the characters and give them depth and credibility. N.K.L. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.