Thirteen Across A Puzzle with a Violent Solution

by Dan Grant

THIRTEEN ACROSS. Seven stops. Seven sets of clues. A race against time. Covert medical research. Will FBI Special Agent Kate Morgan survive it? It starts with an unfolding puzzle and Thirteen Across.

Kate Morgan is on an Orange line train when it is bombed. Phillip Barnes has made his attacks on the nation’s capital personal. Thirteen Across is an ominous sign of the events to come. Kate finds herself thrust into the center of a grander conspiracy.

Barnes reveals an unfolding puzzle—its challenge charts a course, one that expires at midnight. Puzzle solutions and destinations expose a dark past built on illegal human research and a quest for the Perfect People Initiative. Kate must log the tours. She’s charged with saving those that she can. If she survives, the final destination is a place for Kate to atone for her past sins. She’s murdered a killer’s family, and there are consequences for that.

The FBI brings in real-life puzzlemaster, Will Shortz, to riddle out stops, while Kate works the frontlines to save seven victims. Each stop is meant to cause pain and torment, yet reveal secrets.

The clock starts at the Foggy Bottom Metro station and ends seven stops later. What Kate thinks she knows about her past is tested as is her ability to survive her trials.

Dan Grant delivers another edge-of-your-seat story that keeps you guessing. Crosswords? Puzzles? Super soldiers? It’s more than that. Thirteen Across is an intricate thriller that exposes disturbing medical research in the form of a deeper revelation. The story draws on unique landmarks and locations set inside Washington, DC. Seven stops. Seven destinations. How will FBI Special Agent Kate Morgan survive? Read to find out.

Genres: Fiction

512 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2019

About the author

Dan loves stories, especially tales that weave science, medicine, technology, or history into the fabric of the story. The Singularity Witness and Thirteen Across do that and add locations to the mix as well.

He’s a professional engineer with degrees from Northern Arizona University: a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and masters’ in college education and English with an emphasis in creative writing. His engineering endeavors have provided opportunities to work with a variety of medical and technological applications, and get behind the scenes at research and military sites.

Following The Singularity Witness and Thirteen Across, Dan is working on his next thriller—Thomas Parker and Kate Morgan will be back in The Singularity Transfer. Kate will return in a sequel to Thirteen Across, which has yet to be titled… and we shall see what puzzles and quandaries lay in wait for her.

Reviews

[Patty Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Meryl Moss Media and Dan Grant for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of Thirteen Across. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Kate Morgan is on her way to a congressional hearing when a bomb goes off on her train. The bomb was not a coincidence and Kate quickly begins to realize that the bomber is after her. Philip Barnes wants Kate to pay for her sins. He has planted seven more bombs to go off unless Kate can stop him first. Barnes leaves clues in the form of puzzles. In comes Will Shortz, puzzle maker extraordinaire, to help try and solve the clues before more people die. Captain Rachel Pratt, an Army Ranger, has been brought in as a liaison on the case when she loses her squad in another explosion. It turns out that Rachel is very much acquainted with Barnes. They used to be lovers. It turns out that Rachel and Philip were experimented on, genetically engineered to be super soldiers.

Kate knows she is the target and doesn’t want any more innocent people to get hurt. Can she atone for her past sins? Seven more stops. Rachel and Philip have been little more than lab rats. Will their past stay a secret. They know that only one of them will survive their next encounter. Can Shortz figure out the encrypted clues that Barnes is leaving? CIA, FBI, the military, human experiments and puzzles that take you from one landmark to another in Washington, D.C., this is a wild ride.

This story contains so many different elements, all of which I loved. You have the basic bad guy who is going to blow up stuff. You are trying to figure out his motivation with a countdown to the end. Add to it the mystery of what Kate did to make her a target. Next, you layer the crossword puzzles on top of that. Then, you have the uber soldier, human experiments, government secrets. Yes! But never did it feel like too many things going on, confusing or competing storylines. Everything was connected. Since I have been sick, maybe because of the medication, but lately I have a huge problem with names. So in the beginning, I did have to make sure I had everybody straight, but quickly that went away.

I love when a story contains real life characters. The involvement of Will Shortz was brilliant. It is a fictionalized version of him, but still, I think it added a lot. I have been a long time fan of him and his puzzles. I was invested in the mysteries and the characters. I had not read Dan Grant before, so I was unfamiliar with Kate’s backstory. It didn’t bother me at all, I never felt that I needed to go back and read it before understanding this story. It stood on its own. But I will go back and read because I am a fan now. I really enjoyed this one!

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited when I received this book. I liked the premise of including the crossword puzzles as clues to the crimes in the book. I did enjoy the author's writing style. In the end, I found I was putting the book down to read another, so it took me a while to get through this novel. Possible that I am not as big a fan of crosswords as I thought. I did enjoy the sites that the main character, Kate, went to while investigating each clue. It helped make Washington, DC a character in the book. I may have to read the first book and then reread this one to see if I enjoy it more then.

+++I received this book in a Booktrib giveaway, from MindScape Press, Inc. and Dan Grant in exchange for a fair review. +++

[Pegboard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Grant continues with Kate Morgan in Thirteen Across as she is now the victim of a murdering stalker. Each crime against her involves many attacks on others. While the killer leaves her clues as to the transgressions against him. The mastermind send her on missions for the next target. Brilliant and complex murderer Kate needs to comprehend before more people die because of their proximity to her.
 
Thirteen Across grabs you as the realization of how fragile people are to the terrorism of others. Dan Grant slowly unfold the mysteries Kate Morgan discovers. The plot is mesmerizing, while the destruction is devastating. The suspense behind the why of the crimes and the anticipation of the next crime is spellbinding. This is an excellent read on its own, but the reader may want to start with The Singularity Witness to get the full story of Kate Morgan and Phillip Barnes. Plus, Dan Grant is a phenomenal author who can draw the reader in without giving too much information away.  

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boom!! The Orange commuter train line explodes!!
FBI agent Kate Morgan is on the the commuter
train. A briefcase is found near the scene that has
been left with her name on it. In it, a puzzle that
she needs to solve or more people die including
her.
Powerful, stunning, blood chilling, explosive,
riveting and power packed, psychological, emotional,
heart aching read!!
The story grips the reader from the first page. It keeps
intensifying until the very last word.
Tension, drama, suspense, thrills and chills surround
each clue and destination.
The characters are all multifaceted, three dimensional,
well written in a very complex, informative puzzle.
The plot is extremely complicated. It will keep the
reader on the edge of your seat as you go along with
the characters to see if the terrorizing clues can be
found to beat the clock.
Loved learning about the out of the spotlight place in
Washington, DC.
I volunteered to read Thirteen Across, A Puzzle with a
Violent Solution. Thanks to Reading Deals for the
opportunity. My opinion is my own.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Join FBI Special Agent Kate Morgan in this action-packed thriller, as she tries to solve cryptic puzzles set by a killer as payback for killing his family. With time running out, more secrets will unravel, and Kate will have to fight to save herself first if she ever hopes to save seven victims.
Thirteen Across was a fun, fast and entertaining read. I would recommend

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. A book with a very interesting premise devolves into a total mess in terms of coherent and understandable plot devices. All this deals with a mass murderer who is using a crossword puzzle to deliver clue to his next victims and attacks, which in turn is about super secretive government projects. So much alphabet soup jargon, and events to our heroine that are next to impossible to survive yet alone overcome all sorts of injuries to end up saving the day. Parts of the book I enjoyed and parts were just too much. This appears to be part of at least a 3-part series, and there is a lot of background that is also being given to you that really makes little sense if you have not read the first book. It was an OK read but doubt I will spend time reading #1 or future books in the series. Since half is good and half is bad I rate it 2.5**, but round it up to a 3.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

An auspicious new medical thriller – a ‘puzzle in a puzzle’

Colorado author Dan Grant earned his degrees in electrical engineering, college education, and English/Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University and has worked with medical and technological issues, preparing for his writing career creating challenging thrillers. His initial book was THE SINGULARITY WITNESS and now he presents THIRTEEN ACROSS, a continuation of the characters found in the initial book.

With the growing influence of technology on the field of medicine – Electronic Medical Records replacing hand written charts (and doctor/patient real time!), robotics, operating rooms that resemble space stations more than surgeon/nurse/anesthesiologist spaces, stem cell experimentation, etc – novels that address these changes make a difference, both in fascinating concepts and possible predictive elements. Dan Grant capitalizes on this realm and the result is a medical thriller that feels all too familiar. Add to this the current fascination with iPad games and puzzles and this book comes alive with terrific references and parodies - and fine story telling!

Dan provides a very fine synopsis for his story – ‘Kate Morgan is on an Orange line train when it is bombed. Phillip Barnes has made his attacks on the nation’s capital personal. Thirteen Across is an ominous sign of the events to come. Kate finds herself thrust into the center of a grander conspiracy. Barnes reveals an unfolding puzzle—its challenge charts a course, one that expires at midnight. Puzzle solutions and destinations expose a dark past built on illegal human research and a quest for the Perfect People Initiative. Kate must log the tours. She’s charged with saving those that she can. If she survives, the final destination is a place for Kate to atone for her past sins. She’s murdered a killer’s family, and there are consequences for that. The FBI brings in real-life puzzlemaster, Will Shortz, to riddle out stops, while Kate works the frontlines to save seven victims. Each stop is meant to cause pain and torment, yet reveal secrets.
The clock starts at the Foggy Bottom Metro station and ends seven stops later. What Kate thinks she knows about her past is tested as is her ability to survive her trials.’

From the first words we enter a ‘puzzling’ tale – ‘Katherine Morgan hated inquisitions. The congressional hearing on her Monday calendar torpedoed the buzz of a tropical vacation. The summons had greeted her two days earlier, in the form of a stiff in a suit, as she deplaned from a Grand Caymans flight at Dulles International Airport. The nation’s capital was a place where the stars were aligned against her, a place where federal law enforcement and beltway political hacks waited to pile it on…’

Taut, well written and with a cast of unforgettable characters, this book rings true on many levels and is sure to satisfy a broad range of readers. Recommended.

[Ashley Gillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like one of those roller coasters that launch you into things right at hyper speed and don’t slow down until the end. The book opens with a literal explosion and doesn’t pull back for one minute. Thrill junkies will love this action-packed journey through the nation’s capitol.

This book is the second in a series, and while it may be helpful to read them in order for the background information, I had no problem reading this as a standalone.

FBI agent Kate Morgan is on her way to testify before Congress when her commuter train is blown off the tracks and a briefcase is found left at the scene with her name on it and part of a crossword puzzle. Solving the puzzle, which leads Morgan and government investigators on a dizzying and dangerous “treasure hunt,” and in the process exposes some dark government secrets. Morgan hurtles toward the solution as the body count rises, hoping to save as many people as she can.

I really enjoyed the puzzle aspect of this mystery, it was a unique way of watching the action unfold and seeing the pieces come together (pun intended). Each new revelation shines a new light on some aspect of the larger picture - and it’s quite a doozy. It’s also very fascinating, because everyone loves a good government conspiracy. The idea of a shadowy underworld we know nothing about is thrilling, and this book deals with those secrets and the levels of bureaucracy which aim to keep them hidden.

I also liked the characters in this book. Kate is smart and likable and she works her way through some situations which just made me shudder even reading about them (all I’ll say is “underground water tunnels.” I could not.). I am really excited to see where she goes, especially now that she’s really made a name for herself as a troublemaker. Many of the supporting characters were really enjoyable and three-dimensional.

Overall, if you like thrillers and edge-of-your-seat action, this is definitely the book for you. It’s fast-paced, full of great characters and will keep you entertained the whole way through!

[Valery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thirteen Across by Dan Grant starts off with a bang. With Kate Morgan, the lead character on the orange line train in D.C., the unthinkable happens. A bomb goes off, and from there the story begins with a rapid fire pace. A crafty killer has not only planted the bomb, but initiates a game of puzzles that Kate must figure out. This book is a unique combination of suspense, and drama, as well as Kate investigating the Perfect People Initiative, and illegal human research. This along with seven harrowing stops along the train line make for a taut thriller, one that makes you hold your breath as the action takes place. Not only is this book an exciting suspense tale, you get a feel for the landscape and landmarks of D.C., adding to the depth of the story. Well written, with wonderfully drawn and very human characters,this puzzle of a book is prime for a movie thriller featuring a strong female lead. Highly recommend for a fast paced book that keeps your attention throughout until the fantastic ending.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first time in reading this author but I am glad I did. Lately my appetite in reading has been more and more on mysteries with challenging clues and pieces. This one really fits that especially with it also having a go at puzzles. Kate is so interesting she really grabs your attention. It unravels the clues also pulling us at the same time with us not even realizing we are captive. Not to forget Will either whom also has his grip on us with his part. Exhilarating to say the least and a gem of a find.It certainly surprised me and was more than I expected devouring every bit of this.

[Clive Mccartney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review. This book starts with a train wreck which represents the storytelling throughout. Rapid fire action, crossword puzzling supervillain, celebrity puzzle-guy mysteriously and too easily dropped into the story. This is Da Vinci Code on PCP.

[Ileana Renfroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twists and turns and the edge-of-your-seat story kept me guessing until the very end.

Thirteen Across is fictional but boy I could see this actually happening today.

Loved the characters and the fact that it left me wanting more. I cannot wait to read more by this author! WOW!