Rick Reed (author of the true crime Blood Trail) brings back Detective Jack Murphy from his first novel, The Cruelest Cut, in this suspenseful ride. Most of a woman's body is found mutilated in a bathtub at the Marriott in Evansville, Ind.; mere hours later, Jack is looking at the woman's right hand, arranged alongside the similarly abused body of a young mother in the projects. The bodies stack up quickly as Jack and his partner struggle to with the investigation. A local newspaper reporter scoops them at every turn, and his source just might be their serial killer. The investigators are taken to a small town with a two-man police department, and then an FBI profiler is brought in, as the case quickly grows bigger and bigger and spans jurisdictions.
Reed, a former police detective, brings his professional expertise to this thriller in which the vantage point shifts between Jack's criminal investigation and the perspective of the killer, providing a distinctive reading experience. The murderer remains nameless, but we get glimpses into what drives him and what makes him hesitate. When his identity is finally revealed, the shock is not lessened, but the tale gets an interesting twist from the shifting viewpoint.
Reed's second crime thriller delivers with fast-paced suspense, twists and turns, the humor of several witty detectives and that rarity of fiction, a likable FBI agent. Gruesome serial killings are balanced by banter, the sweet if harried relationship between Jack and his parole officer girlfriend and an ending with a note of hope. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pages of julia