Book excerpt: In his senior year in college, star athlete Mitch Prudene has a perfect grade-point average, a full scholarship to law school, a beautiful girlfriend and a secret that will doom everything if anyone finds out about it. Unfortunately, Mitchs worst fears are realized when the mysterious Ace Nagle shows up. Like a card cheat who has the deck stacked, Nagle not only knows Mitchs secret, but seems to know everything else about him, tooall of his weaknesses and exactly how to manipulate him. Threatening to go to the police with the information he has, Nagle blackmails Mitchonly instead of money, he demands that Mitch perform a series of illegal favors. So begins a sinister cycle of extortion where each crime Mitch commits for Nagle becomes new ammunition for Nagle to use against Mitch and the only way out is for Mitch to find out who Nagle really is and what hes after. In the spirit of such thrillers as Cape Fear and Fatal Attraction, Nagles Mercy is a page-turning rollercoaster ride of white-knuckle suspense.