Dark Horse, Tami Hoag
Dark Horse, Tami Hoag
4 Rating(s)
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Dark Horse

Author: Tami Hoag

Narrator: Beth McDonald

Unabridged: 14 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/27/2002


Synopsis

In her latest thriller, New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag takes readers on a suspense-filled ride of shocks and twists leading to an explosive finish. It is the story of an ex-cop, a missing girl, and a killer locked in a race where there can be only one winner--and the losers die trying.

In a trailer in a Florida swamp, time is running out for eighteen year-old Erin Seabright. A pawn in a kidnapper's terrifying game for a ransom no one can pay, her last hope is a washed-up ex-cop who has already lost it all-not once, but twice.

The wealthy world of the Palm Beach horse set seems a long way from a cop's world in the narcotics division. A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff's detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and BackTop alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn't deserve to have a future. But the past is about to come back with a vengeance, and the future is about to become a race between life and death.

A young woman is missing and her twelve year-old stepsister comes to Estes for help. No one but serious, studious Molly Seabright seems concerned about what's happened to her troubled older sister. But Molly is convinced Erin is in danger. Estes has no P.I. license, no interest in a new career, and no desire to break her self-imposed exile. But the more she learns about the people Erin Seabright was involved with, the more her long-dormant cop instincts come back to life.

One trip to the show grounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the glittering, ultra-rich facade is an ultra-ruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. A world of dissolute playboys and crooked horse-dealers, of royalty and rabble, of rivals and enemies. An obscenely wealthy world where anything can be had for a price--including a life.

And in that world stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a dark, twisted trail of decadence and deceit, mayhem and murder--from the gilded life of Palm Beach to the darkest corners of the Florida swamps, to a final show-down that could cost her everything. A race against time and evil. A race in which Estes is the dark horse--and no one is betting on her to win.

About Tami Hoag

Born in Cresco, Iowa and raised in Harmony, Minnesota…Tami Hoag knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age. Her first job after graduating from high school was in the La Crosse Tribune circulation department. Before publishing her first novel, she also worked as a photographer's assistant, trained show horses, and sold designer bathroom accessories. She began her career as an author in 1988, writing category romances for the Bantam Books Loveswept Line. After several years of success in that field, Hoag switched her focus to single-title suspense novels. She has had thirteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including five in a 20-month span. Her novel Night Sins became a TV miniseries starring Valerie Bertinelli and Harry Hamlin.

Hoag and three other authors who made the leap from romance to thrillers at roughly the same time (Eileen Dreyer, Elizabeth Grayson and Kimberly Cates) have formed a group they call the Divas. The group provides support and encouragement for each other, and Hoag often thanks them in the acknowledgement section of her books.

Tami Hoag currently lives in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Other interests include the study of psychology, and mixed martial arts fighting.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Janet on 2010-05-25 12:09:49

This was the first book by this author that I had read, not bad, but very wordy... Not what I expected. I read mystery and suspense books all the time, just didn't enjoy this one. Don't know if will ever read another from this author.

Goodreads review by Diamond on May 10, 2023

full review at a later date.......more

Goodreads review by Laurie (barksbooks) on November 17, 2016

2.5 Stars This is a thriller that, for me at least, wasn’t very thrilling. It involves a missing young woman, some lovely horses, some not at all pleasant animal and human cruelty and a slew of assholish suspects, all of whom are decidedly up to no good. That part of the plot was pretty lackluster. I......more

Goodreads review by Shaun on October 01, 2016

I love mysteries. I love horses, and I love Tami Hoag's style of writing, so it's no surprise I enjoyed the first installment of her Elena Estes' series. Interestingly, the rough-around-the-edges, obnoxious protagonist of this series who is Elena Estes (and who seems to be hated by some of the more n......more

Goodreads review by John on June 13, 2018

A few years ago narcotics cop Elena Estes was drummed out of the force after a rash act of heroism on her part led to a colleague losing his life. Now she's living off her very wealthy childhood friend Sean and vaguely assisting with the passel of horses he owns. (These horses are trained for equest......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on February 01, 2012

OK, so this is how an author produces a book a year. I’m learning. Having just finished Cry Wolf, I had a sense of deja vu from the beginning. Oh here comes the same heroine. In Cry Wolf, ex-lawyer Laurel has messed up a court case, lost an important case and caused terrible grief to abused children......more


Quotes

“With its hard-boiled view of equine society, Dark Horse helps fill the gap made in crime fiction by the retirement of jockey-turned-author Dick Francis.”The Wall Street Journal