5 Ways to Catch a Serial Killer: New Crime Fiction
If you read a lot of crime fiction, you'd think a serial
killer lived on every block of every town or city in the world. I do
read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, but I'm pretty sure I don't live
next door to the new Ted Bundy.
The common thread of
the books I feature today is that they all involve multiple murders and
in all but one case the killer is yet to be identified or caught. The protagonists range
from ordinary citizens to FBI agents, each one determined to find the
villain before he (or she?) strikes again.
The Third to Die by Allison Brennan
(Mira, Feb. 4), stars an LAPD detective and an FBI special agent who
are tasked with tracking down the "Triple Killer" before he strikes
again. Every three years, starting on March 3, the killer murders three
people, three days apart, and then disappears for three years before
starting the cycle over. After Detective Kara Quinn finds the body of a
nurse, Special Agent Mattias Costa and his forensic psychologist are
sent to help investigate. The trio has three days to stop the next
murder and only six days until the killer goes into hiding for three
more years. Reviews have been mixed, but I'm all in, especially because
this may be the start of a new series.
Never Forget by Martin Michaud
(Dundurn, Feb. 11) is set in Montreal and stars police detective Victor
Lessard and his partner, Jacinthe Taillon. The mystery starts out with
several seemingly unrelated events: a murder, a suicide, and a missing
person. Lessard and Taillon, however, soon discover the possible links among
the current cases as well as some evidence that the crimes may be
related to a political assassination that occurred decades earlier. The
pressure is on to solve the cases before anyone else is killed.
Political intrigue, conspiracy theories, and lure of revenge all play a
part in this twisty mystery. This is the third in a series, but the
first one to be published in English.
The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo
(Ecco, Feb. 11) features an FBI-trained criminal psychologist who is in
Seoul to interview a serial killer who insists he'll tell his story to
no one else. While Seonkyeong is doing her work, her husband is moving
his estranged 11-year-old daughter into their house. The girl lived with
her mother and then her maternal grandparents; now that all three have
died, her father has taken her in. The girl is difficult, to say the
least, but more disturbing, Seonkyeong is finding a surprising number of
similarities between the convicted murderer and her stepdaughter. Are
Seonkyeong's suspicions legit or is she just having trouble dealing with
an adolescent?
Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little
(Viking, Feb. 25) takes place on an island off the coast of Delaware
where a movie about an unsolved murder is being filmed. When Marissa
Dahl takes over the film editing duties, she discovers that the movie is
based on a real-life cold case that took place on that very island
decades earlier; she also quickly learns that the movie set is fraught
with tension and an unhappy cast and crew. After she discovers a body,
Marissa suspects that the original killer may still live on the island. With the
help of some local teens and her own curiosity, she sets out to expose
the villain before he can strike again. The novel includes details about
how movies are made as well as a little bit of romance.
Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long
(Mira, Feb. 18) stars Wisconsin police detectives A.L. McKittridge and
Rena Morgan who are tasked with investigating the murders of four women, who were killed days apart in the small town of Baywood. The killer has been striking
every 10 days for more than a month, leaving very few clues behind. In this
first installment in a new series, we learn as much about A.L.'s and Rena's personal
lives as we do about the crimes, as the detectives race to end the
killing spree, overcome obstacles, and do their best to protect the
woman they think could be next victim. Good character development with a
nod to larger issues (such as marriage and parenthood) round out this
thriller.
Which serial killer novel is calling to you? I'm equally interested in The Only Child and Pretty as a Picture.
6 comments:
I heard a mystery author speak one time. He said most people will never encounter a dead body and he has to make it seem plausible that his character finds them over and over again.
All of these books sound good to me.
These look intriguing. I'm not a great reader of mystery thrillers but do enjoy Luise Penny
I'm going to check those out. Just finished a different sort or serial killer novel by Susan Isaacs, Takes One to Know One, quite good.
I think Pretty As a Picture and Ten Days Gone both sound pretty good.
I don't read a lot of mystery.thriller books and series of murders. But I have read the J.D. Robb series and another series that does have murder and usually more than one. But I just sprinkle them in among other reading!
love mysteries almost as much as dystopian or post apocalyptic stories and looking around this country lately i feel as if i am in the prequel of both (tho i wouldnt mind a murder ... yes i have a victim in mind)
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