Bannerman is back! The return of the New York Times bestselling Paul Bannerman series--the first new novel in a decade, and the first ever in hardcover.

They're called Bannerman's People, and they could be the bartender, the gardener, or the librarian--but, in fact, they're former operatives who've "retired," en masse, to the sleepy, affluent community of Westport, CT. It's the peaceful life they crave--and they'll go to any lengths to protect it and one another.

Now a Machiavellian entrepreneur sets his sights on one of their former associates--a "ghost" named Elizabeth Stride (from Haven), long rumored to be dead--Paul Bannerman and his neighbors must mobilize. Very quickly they discover that their mission is about much more than fealty and friendship, as they find themselves in the midst of a terrorist's deadly game.

Here's a preview of the jacket:

INSIDE FLAPS

The chillingly prescient subject of New York Times bestselling author John Maxim's remarkable new thriller-which anticipates the development of unstoppable viral weapons-is reassuring in at least one regard: it has threatened and angered Paul Bannerman.

The story begins not in Westport, Connecticut, where Bannerman and a group of his deadliest operatives have been trying to live otherwise normal lives, but in a fortified estate outside Washington DC, where the billionaire sociopath Artemus Bourne has taken delivery of a package. It was to contain samples of horrific bio-weapons that one of his off-shore firms had created. Instead the package held three severed heads. One belonged to the scientist who'd developed those weapons. The other two had tested them on humans.

Bourne knew who had sent him the three heads and why. It was an act of vengeance by a man long thought dead. He was out of Bourne's reach, but that man had one weakness. His weakness was a woman, the great love of his life. Find her and this problem might be nipped in the bud before the world learns what he's been making.

Bourne's solution puts him at odds with Paul Bannerman, himself a friend of this woman. And Bannerman has a number of "ghosts" of his own, so-called because they, too, are thought to be dead and beyond the reach of the living. But none of them are beyond the reach of Artemus Bourne's deadly mists. If Bannerman does not agree to stand down, if it breathes and it's in Westport, it will die.

This new Bannerman adventure, long-awaited, much-requested, is a heart-stopping tale ripped from today's headlines. It is also a tale of loyalty, of honor, and a love that transcends life and death.

John Maxim is the author of the New York Times bestselling Bannerman novels-including The Bannerman Solution and Bannerman's Promise--as well as Whistler's Angel, Haven and The Shadow Box. He lives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where he's working on The Bannerman Prophecy.

BACK COVER

"There is no defense - none - against a chimera virus such as Marburg or Ebola spliced with smallpox. Nearly all who are exposed will die and quite horribly. Think 200 million or more. No vaccination program, no matter how massive, will have more than a speed bump effect. Once released, containment is out of the question. It won't end until it runs out of hosts. Such a weapon can only be stopped at its source. The question is how? And by whom?"

--Virologist at Centers for Disease Control, speaking on the condition of anonymity

"I've been a huge John Maxim fan for years. One of the things I admire most about his writing is how the plot turns hinge on how each character thinks and reacts. Maxim does this better than anyone else in the business; and he's so realistic that Bannerman's Ghosts has made me almost paranoid about bio-terrorism."

--Linda Howard, author of Dying to Please

"John Maxim is superb. And Bannerman is dynamite."

--Iris Johansen, author of Dead Aim , No One to Trust and Final Target.

"BANNERMAN'S GHOST kept me hooked from start to finish. With sharp writing, riveting suspense, and unusual humor, Maxim's novel is remarkably fresh and thoroughly entertaining. This is a wonderful addition to the Bannerman series."

--Nelson DeMille, author of Up Country , Plum Island and The Lion's Game.