What Happened to the Bennetts

October 1, 2021

As star court reporter Jason Bennett drives his family home from his daughter's lacrosse game, two men in a pickup truck attempt to carjack his shiny new Mercedes. As a result, Jason's daughter is killed, and the rest of the family is placed in the witness protection program; the would-be carjackers are associated with an ominous criminal enterprise that distributes illicit opioids. Soon, though, Jason senses that the government isn't being straight with him and sneaks out to do some investigating on his own.

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January 17, 2022
At the outset of this heart-wrenching novel from bestseller Scottoline (Eternal), Jason and Lucinda Bennett, while driving home to Philadelphia with their son, his older sister, 15-year-old Allison, and their dog, are forced to stop by two men in a truck. When the dog jumps at the men, Allison is accidentally shot, and the two flee. Allison dies at the hospital, where the Bennetts learn that one of their assailants later fatally shot the other, who turns out to have been the son of the head of a criminal network that distributes and sells opiates in Pennsylvania. Early the next morning, two FBI agents bundle the Bennetts off to a safe house in Delaware, where they’re to stay before entering the witness protection program. Scottoline piles on the pathos with repetitive memories and musings among the surviving family members until Jason finally decides to take back control of his life, and what started as an examination of the profound pain of losing a child morphs into a high-speed, action-packed thriller. Conspiracy theories multiply as Jason races toward the truth. Scottoline’s fans will get their money’s worth. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

February 1, 2022
The Bennett family is caught in a carjacking, and as Jason Bennett tries to calm the situation, one of the gunmen coldly shoots his partner, and Jason's daughter, Allison, is killed in the ensuing chaos. FBI agents quickly appear in the Bennetts' suburban enclave, insisting that they enter the Witness Protection Program. Unfortunately for the family, the murdered carjacker was the son of George Veria, Philadelphia's most powerful kingpin, and the other, John Milo, has ignited Veria's vengeance by fingering Jason as the killer. Jason's fear morphs to rage when he discovers that the feds are also working with Milo, and he ducks his minders, determined to redirect Veria's revenge. Unfortunately, the heartfelt father-to-father chat Jason envisioned doesn't take into account that the whole murderous shebang was meant to bury a secret he doesn't know he holds. Scottoline's gift for crafting human connections is displayed here in the evocative grief of Veria and the Bennetts, setting this thriller apart from other suburban-hero stories. A good choice for Greg Hurwitz and Harlan Coben fans.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Perennial best-seller Scottoline, who hosts a book club attracting 1,000 fans, will draw that group and thousands more with her latest.

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Starred review from February 1, 2022
A hypernormal suburban family's trip home from their daughter's soccer game leads them down a rabbit hole of criminal complications. For some reason--maybe just because it's a Mercedes--a pair of gunslingers pick court reporter Jason Bennett's ride to carjack as he drives along a quiet road with his wife, photographer Lucinda, and their teenagers, Allison and Ethan. In the scuffle that follows, one of the carjackers is shot along with Allison, who dies in the hospital. Wait, it gets worse. A pair of FBI agents knocks on the Bennetts' door at 3 a.m. to tell them that John Milo, the escaped carjacker, has framed Jason for the murder of his accomplice, George Veria Jr., in order to save himself from the wrath of Junior's father, the kingpin of the George Veria Organization. Time is of the essence, the agents assure Jason and Lucinda: They have to leave their house and their old lives behind right now and go into the witness protection program. Sure enough, minutes after the three shellshocked Bennetts allow themselves to be driven off, a representative of the GVO sets fire to their house and follows up the next day with similar fires at Jason's and Lucinda's offices. Warned off social media, the Bennetts can only watch helplessly as their friends and neighbors issue pleas for them to get in touch and self-styled "citizen detective" Bryan Krieger decides to launch his own freelance investigation, fueled by slanderous innuendo. Every time Jason thinks he's finally got the situation figured out, Scottoline tosses in explosive new complications in the most relentless of all her mysteries. A high-octane thriller whose hero is tossed into one impossible situation after another. Best started early in the morning.

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