Liz Sansborough

Liz Sansborough thought she had left her past behind forever. A former CIA field agent as well as the daughter of perhaps the most notorious Cold War assassin, the man known to the world only as The Carnivore, Liz is now a university professor in Southern California specializing in the psychology of violence. But her dead father's legacy has come back to overtake Liz. Someone, somewhere is claiming to have possession of the Carnivore's secret files and is using the information contained within them to blackmail prominent world figures to promote some secret agenda. Files that Liz swore her father never kept. First Liz herself is attacked and almost killed, then Liz's cousin Sarah Walker is kidnapped in Paris and her husband, CIA agent Asher Flores, is gravely wounded. The only ransom the kidnappers will accept is the Carnivore's files. Now if Liz is to save Sarah, she must somehow resurrect her old tradecraft skills and, in a desperate hunt across two continents, locate the files and uncover a dark and dangerous conspiracy linked to a shadowy group known only as the Coil. With her bestselling thriller Masquerade, Gayle Lynds earned her reputation as one of the most exciting new writers of international suspense. Now with The Coil, the sequel to Masquerade, Gayle Lynds is at the very top of her form, proving herself one of the finest writers in the field today.

When you gaze into the mirror--and find a stranger looking back? Liz Sansborough has no recollection of her past as a CIA agent; no idea what her future holds. For her, there is only the present...and the chilling knowledge that the world's most lethal assassin has set his sights on her. When your only link to your identity is a stranger who claim to be lover? Gordon is so gentle, so loving--and so secretive. If Liz dares to put her life into his powerful hands, will he guard it with his own--or snuff it out? When violence explodes around you, when nothing makes sense, when nobody--including you--is whom he or she appears to be? As Liz unravels a series of lies, she begins to suspect that the truth she encounters might be far more sinister--and deadly--than the original deception...

Experience a heart-pumping and thrilling tale of suspense! Originally published in THRILLER (2006), edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson. New York Times bestselling writer Gayle Lynds has been called the "queen of the spy novel." And for good reason. In this tense Thriller Short, Lynds's character Liz Sansborough is put to the ultimate test, one that involves a character who goes by the rather ominous sobriquet of the Carnivore.