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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Rockstar Book Tours: BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER by Marie Lu-- EXCERPT


About the Book:
Title: BATMAN: NIGHTWALKER (DC Icons #2)
Author: Marie Lu
Pub. Date: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 272
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon,  B&NTBD
Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.

One by one, the city's elites are being executed as their mansions' security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family's fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises and all the tech gadgetry his heart could ever desire. But after a run-in with the police, he's forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison that holds the city's most brutal criminals.

Madeleine Wallace is a brilliant killer . . . and Bruce's only hope.

In Arkham, Bruce meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers. What is she hiding? And why will she speak only to Bruce? Madeleine is the mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees? Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer.

Excerpt:

When Bruce headed down to the basement level after lunch, one of the lights in the corridor was flickering in an unsettling rhythm. It cast a trembling glow against the walls, making the hall seem surreal, as if it might blink out of existence if he shut his eyes. A couple of the cells were empty, while several of the remaining inmates were napping. Already, he didn't recognize some of them. Inmates didn't stay down here for long. Maybe the girl had been moved by now, too, even though Bruce felt strangely disappointed at the thought.
     He reached the end of the hall, where the girl's cell sat beside the flickering light. He slowed his steps. She was still here, this time alone. 
    She's in there for a good reason.
    But she was so young. Decades younger than everyone else in here. Bruce frowned as he watched her, waiting for something, anything--a violent tantrum, an insult--to reveal a clue about why everyone found her so threatening that they locked her up down here. His gaze returned to the new shape she was folding with her napkin. It looked like an unfinished lion. He wondered what it would transform into when she was done with it. 
   As he looked on, she glanced up at the door. At him. 
   Again, her look caught him off guard. This time Bruce forced himself not to jerk away. He walked toward her door's window and stopped right in front of it. 
    She stared at him for a long moment. Of course she wouldn't speak, Bruce reminded himself. She has been in here for weeks, at least, maybe even months, and hadn't uttered a single word. How much longer would Draccon try to get something out of her? What exactly did they want to hear from her anyway? If---
  "You're Bruce Wayne."
    Bruce stilled.
    Did he just hear her speak? And not just that. She recognized him. The sound of her voice surprised him so much that, for an instant, he couldn't move.  She was soft-spoken, but her words rang clear as a bell. Lovely. Soothing, even. 
   "Guilty," he finally replied.

About Marie:

 Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy and The Young Elites trilogy. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as a Flash artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California (see above: traffic), with one husband, one Chihuahua mix, and two Pembroke Welsh corgis.

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