Silver Bear

The intense psychological portrait of a hitman-the anti-Jason Bourne-as he stalks his prey from Boston to LA. He wants you to know him, maybe even admire him, but only for his excellence in his craft. Perhaps he was even born for it. "A natural killer," his mentor-a middleman named Vespucci-said he was. He proved it with his first professional hit: a Fifth Circuit Court judge in Boston, executed with a sheet of Saran Wrap in the stairwell of her own courthouse. He's proved his merit often, usually with a Glock semiautomatic, but he's improvised too, with his bare hands, the heel of a shoe, knives, even a sewing machine. He is the consummate assassin, at the top of his form, immune to the psychological strains of his chosen profession. He is what the Russians call a Silver Bear. He calls himself Columbus. It's the name Vespucci gave him, ten years ago, when he discovered a dark, new world of fences, clients, marks, jobs, jack. Not that his real name meant much to him anyway. He never knew his father or his mother, a prostitute who became dangerously involved back in the seventies with an earnest young congressman named Abe Mann, then a rising star in the Democratic Party. The magnetic Abe Mann has since become the Speaker of the House. He is currently running for the Democratic nomination in an exhausting presidential campaign, weaving his way across the country. Columbus is not far behind. But as he pieces together his past and prepares the seamless assassination of his mark, the criminal underworld he has always ruled begins unraveling violently around him.

Columbus is back and as deadly as ever. But the hunter has now become the hunted, in this sequel to the national bestseller The Silver Bear. He told you not to like him. To get close to Columbus, the Silver Bear, means death. Exactly whose death remains to be determined. Recouping in Europe after losing his fence and best friend during his mission to assassinate his father, Columbus now finds his reverie interrupted by multiple assassins searching for the elusive Silver Bear. As Columbus eliminates each killer, more and more appear-a hydra effect he can only eliminate by finding the origin of the hit, a source connected to his own past. Racing across the globe, as both hunter and hunted, Columbus' travels take him to Italy, where he meets a mysterious woman named Risina. A woman with her own secret past, she may be Columbus' only hope of salvation.

The latest thriller featuring the sleek and sinister Silver Bear-from leading Hollywood scriptwriter Derek Haas. Columbus has retired. Or so he thinks. He and his lover, Risina, a mysterious rare-book dealer, have fled to a tiny Italian coastal village where no one knows their names. And yet Columbus has trouble letting go. His paranoia is justified when one day, he notices a suspicious man following him, and within days, he's back in Chicago trying to figure out why his old fence has been kidnapped and maybe even killed. The ransom note left behind demands Columbus by name. The Silver Bear must now sever this last link with his dark past if he and Risina are to ever have hope at a new life. Yet Risinia seems to show a remarkable knack for the kill herself . . . and perhaps there won't be a chance for turning back.

From acclaimed author and screenwriter Derek Haas comes a unique and thrilling twist on a family story-what happens when an elite assassin becomes a father? Now a new dad, the infamous Silver Bear finds himself staying up late to give a bottle and changing diapers-all while leading the double life of a contract killer. The struggle is not with his conscience. He enjoys his gig. But a child forces him to weigh selfishness versus safety. Continue in his line of work, and he'll always wonder if he's putting his child's life at risk. When the next assignment comes, both Columbus and his partner Risina are surprised to find that the mark is another assassin: a brash, young man named Castillo. An assassin on the rise, he's responsible for slaying a high profile CEO. As Columbus closes in on his target, he realizes that Castillo is a younger version of himself. It's almost like looking in a mirror. Castillo has even studied Columbus' work. Yet as much as Columbus sees himself in this young man, his assignment is clear. Then, Castillo learns that his hero and unwitting mentor has a family-a revelation with enormous ramifications. Now that he knows Columbus's weakness, he will go after it and exploit it. Just as Columbus would have done...

An explosive thriller from the acclaimed co-creator of "Chicago Fire" featuring his dynamic and compelling anti-hero, Columbus. The way I die is two taps to the head, stuffed in the trunk of a rental sedan, my body set on fire. The way I die is both arms broken, both legs broken, tossed off a cigarette boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, bricks in my pockets to weigh down the corpse. The way I die is acid in a bathtub, pushed out of an airplane, strung up and gutted in an old textile warehouse in Boston. My name is Copeland. My name is Columbus. The way I die is a shotgun in my mouth, my finger on the trigger. It is the middle of February on Mackinac Island, a tiny community off the northern Michigan coast. But Columbus isn't here to enjoy the picturesque surroundings. Reeling after the death of his wife and relinquishing his son, he lives in isolation-in self-imposed punishment and exile. Forgotten and alone. Nameless to his neighbors. But even if he runs and hides, Columbus is never alone for long.