The Midnight Before Christmas A Holiday Thriller

Thirtysomething lawyer Megan McGee is facing a quiet Christmas with her bulldog when Bonnie Cantrell, a battered wife, comes looking for legal protection from her violent ex-cop husband, Carl. In a recent bout of rage, Carl vowed to kill their seven-year-old son, Tommy, rather than be separated from the boy. It's no idle threat, either--as Bonnie assures Megan: "He's tried before." And when Tommy's school unwittingly allows him to leave with his father, Carl gets his chance to try again. Now, with the town all but shut down for the holiday, Megan races against time--and terror--to keep Carl's Christmas Eve jaunt from turning into a slay ride.

William Bernhardt made his debut as a novelist with Primary Justice. His subsequent novels include Blind Justice, Deadly Justice, Perfect Justice--which won the Oklahoma Book Award and led The Vancouver Sun to dub the author "the American equivalent of P. G. Wodehouse or John Mortimer"--Double Jeopardy, Cruel Justice, Naked Justice, Extreme Justice, and Dark Justice. As an attorney, Bernhardt has received several awards for his public service, and in 1993 he was named one of the top twenty-five young lawyers in the nation. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Kirsten, and their children, Harry and Alice.