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Like the six books before it, Joe Victim has had many helping hands. My editor at Atria Books in New York, the wonderful Sarah Branham, always makes me think in different directions. She helps shape the novels and makes me be a better writer, and makes me want to be a better writer. Sarah rocks! As to the rest of the Atria and Simon & Schuster team: Judith Curr, Lisa Keim, Mellony Torres, Anne Spieth, Isolde Sauer, Janice Fryer, Gillian Cowin, and Emily Bestler, among all the others who do great, great things.

Aside from being lucky enough to have one of the best editors around, I also have the best agent in the world. If you know Jane Gregory of Gregory & Company, then you know what I say is true. Jane is brilliant. As are Claire Morris and Linden Morris, and of course Stephanie Glencross, Jane’s in-house editor—my go-to person for all things writing and all things life.

Let me sign off once again by thanking you, the reader. Thanks again for the support, the emails, and the Facebook messages. Thanks for coming along to book signings and festivals to say hi. You’re who I write for, you’re the reason I like to make bad things happen . . .

Till next time!

Paul Cleave

March 2013—Christchurch

About the Author

PAUL CLEAVE is the author of seven internationally bestselling thrillers: The Cleaner; The Killing Hour; Cemetery Lake; Blood Men, winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel of 2011; Collecting Cooper, a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2011; and The Laughterhouse, a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2012. He lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Find out more at www.paulcleave.com.

Also by Paul Cleave

The Laughterhouse

Collecting Cooper

Blood Men

Cemetery Lake

The Killing Hour

The Cleaner

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright ©2013 by Paul Cleave

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Atria Paperback edition September 2013

Cover design by Alan Dingman

Cover photograph © Richard Nixon/Arcangel Images

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Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cleave, Paul, date.

Joe Victim : a thriller / Paul Cleave.—First Atria paperback edition.

pages cm

1. Serial murderers—Fiction. 2. Death row inmates—Fiction. 3. Psychological fiction. I. Title.

PR9639.4.C54J64 2013

823'.92—dc23 2013005568

ISBN 978-1-4516-7797-3

ISBN 978-1-4516-7798-0 (ebook)

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Twelve Months Later

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Chapter Fifty-Five

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy-One

Chapter Seventy-Two

Chapter Seventy-Three

Chapter Seventy-Four

Chapter Seventy-Five

Chapter Seventy-Six

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Chapter Eighty

Chapter Eighty-One

Chapter Eighty-Two

Epilogue

Acknowledgments