Special Agent Dagny Gray is smart, athletic, and fearless. She’s also fragile, depressed, and anorexic. If she doesn’t get healthy soon, the FBI will drop her—and she’ll never have a chance to end the crime spree of the so-called “bubble gum thief.”
It all started with the theft of a pack of gum, and the ominous note he left behind: THIS IS MY FIRST CRIME. MY NEXT WILL BE BIGGER. Every two weeks, he delivers on this pledge, committing a bigger crime, and promising that the next will be even worse. When petty theft gives way to bloody murder, the stakes become clear. He may have begun with the smallest crime possible, but he’s building toward the biggest crime imaginable.
There’s a method to the gum thief’s madness, and Special Agent Dagny Gray knows she can figure it out…if the Bureau will let her. But will it be in time to prevent the cataclysmic finale of his escalating spree?
From Booklist
Starred Review: An ominous warning—“This is my first crime. My next will be bigger“—is printed on a business card with a pilfered stick of bubble gum taped to the back. It is found at a convenience store, the first in a series of odd and increasingly serious crimes. Finally, after the same note is found at the scene of a bank robbery in Cincinnati, the case is brought to the attention of the FBI. Dagney Gray is a driven, anorexic FBI agent who needs to get healthy to do her job. She’s working the case while attending a class on terrorism taught by “the Professor,” a brilliant agent who has been pushed into a basement classroom due to office politics. Gray is starting to see a pattern in the case, but the Bureau is reluctant to take her seriously, and she is relegated to menial tasks. While the assistant FBI director puts thousands of agents on the front line, Gray, the Professor, and Gray’s newly appointed rookie partner, Victor, work the case on their own. There are lots of twists and turns here, and just when the case appears to be solved, it isn’t. A gripping plot and a terrific cast leave the reader hoping that this is the first of a series; these characters are too good for just one book. — Stacy Alesi
About the Author
Jeff Miller grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Jerry Springer attended his temple and Pete Rose broke his heart. He’s rafted down the Rio Grande with folksinger Butch Hancock, co-created an award-winning mockumentary about table tennis, and performed and written for a public access sketch comedy series. Like many lawyers, the only thing he ever really wanted to do was write. The Bubble Gum Thief is his first book. He lives with his incredible wife, Kate, and their two young sons.
Description:
Special Agent Dagny Gray is smart, athletic, and fearless. She’s also fragile, depressed, and anorexic. If she doesn’t get healthy soon, the FBI will drop her—and she’ll never have a chance to end the crime spree of the so-called “bubble gum thief.”
It all started with the theft of a pack of gum, and the ominous note he left behind: THIS IS MY FIRST CRIME. MY NEXT WILL BE BIGGER. Every two weeks, he delivers on this pledge, committing a bigger crime, and promising that the next will be even worse. When petty theft gives way to bloody murder, the stakes become clear. He may have begun with the smallest crime possible, but he’s building toward the biggest crime imaginable.
There’s a method to the gum thief’s madness, and Special Agent Dagny Gray knows she can figure it out…if the Bureau will let her. But will it be in time to prevent the cataclysmic finale of his escalating spree?
From Booklist
Starred Review:
An ominous warning—“This is my first crime. My next will be bigger“—is printed on a business card with a pilfered stick of bubble gum taped to the back. It is found at a convenience store, the first in a series of odd and increasingly serious crimes. Finally, after the same note is found at the scene of a bank robbery in Cincinnati, the case is brought to the attention of the FBI. Dagney Gray is a driven, anorexic FBI agent who needs to get healthy to do her job. She’s working the case while attending a class on terrorism taught by “the Professor,” a brilliant agent who has been pushed into a basement classroom due to office politics. Gray is starting to see a pattern in the case, but the Bureau is reluctant to take her seriously, and she is relegated to menial tasks. While the assistant FBI director puts thousands of agents on the front line, Gray, the Professor, and Gray’s newly appointed rookie partner, Victor, work the case on their own. There are lots of twists and turns here, and just when the case appears to be solved, it isn’t. A gripping plot and a terrific cast leave the reader hoping that this is the first of a series; these characters are too good for just one book. — Stacy Alesi
About the Author
Jeff Miller grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Jerry Springer attended his temple and Pete Rose broke his heart. He’s rafted down the Rio Grande with folksinger Butch Hancock, co-created an award-winning mockumentary about table tennis, and performed and written for a public access sketch comedy series. Like many lawyers, the only thing he ever really wanted to do was write. The Bubble Gum Thief is his first book. He lives with his incredible wife, Kate, and their two young sons.