Marshall Karp

I have one thing to do before I die. And time is running out. I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday. My mother also died at forty-three. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s. I am not letting that happen to my family. I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie. You’re probably thinking, she’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”? From thriller writer Marshall Karp (cocreator with James Patterson of the #1 New York Times bestselling NYPD Red series), and rich with Karp’s deft array of three-dimensional characters and his signature biting humor, Don’t Tell Me How to Die has so many twists and turns, you’d swear he wrote it with a corkscrew.

They call him el Carnicero―the Butcher. He is the most powerful drug lord on the planet, and when the city of New York incurs his wrath, he utters a single “¡Venganza!” With military precision, he strafes Central Park with 4,000 pounds of cocaine, killing hundreds of innocent people enjoying a summer afternoon. The only NYPD unit trained to go up against this level of terrorism has been disbanded, but four anonymous billionaires retaliate by recruiting a task force of highly decorated retired cops. Armed with cutting-edge technology, former NYPD captain Danny Corcoran leads his team in a pulse-pounding thriller in their battle to stop the enraged head of a Mexican cartel from raining more death on the city.

Lower Manhattan: A sniper's bullet ends the life of a high-profile New Yorker. Five miles uptown, a second prominent victim has his throat slashed. And that's only the beginning. A network of professional assassins is on the loose in New York City. Trained by the US military, they're on their own now, with a new unit called Kappa Omega Delta. Killers On Demand. NYPD Red detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan are called in to hunt them down, but these mercenaries are as gifted in the art of escape as they are in snuffing out lives. It's the biggest professional challenge the Red team has ever faced, and before it's over, both Kylie's and Zach's personal lives will change. Forever.