The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker

Half the fun when you're reading crime is figuring out who the killer is, so it's unfortunate when said killer gets squished by a bus in the first few minutes of a book.

In this case it's all about finding his last victim. A one-eared teen hidden in a cement jungle in a dark room full of nasty surprises.

The killer picks his victims in an odd way. He chooses to inflict secondary pain by killing someone close to the person he wants to punish. Of course that pain is nothing compared to the butcher-like torture he expresses upon his physical victims. Bit by bit and parcel by parcel.

A cat and mouse game ensues with Detective Porter, who is dealing with plenty of personal issues at the time FMK returns to make a last stand.

There are plenty of twist and turns combined with strong characters and a compelling plot. Barker likes to take his readers to very dark places, literally dark places.

I will not tell a lie, the author manages to create the type of images that make your spine tingle and the hairs rise up on the back of your neck. It's creepy and vicious, in a very IT clown staring up at you from a drain, kind of way.

Barker writes a wicked plot, a wee bit gruesome and barbaric at times, but definitely a fast-paced and blood fuelled exhilarating read. Definitely an author I will be revisiting.

Buy The Fourth Monkey at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

28th October 2015: Blog-Tour: The Ripper Gene by Michael Ransom

On the 28th of October I will be looking forward to welcoming Michael Ransom and his book The Ripper Gene to the blog, as part of the ongoing blog-tour for his intriguing book.
Featuring my review and hardcover giveaway of the The Ripper Gene!

About the book:

A neuroscientist-turned-FBI-profiler discovers a gene that produces psychopaths in this thrilling debut novel.

Dr. Lucas Madden is a neuroscientist-turned-FBI profiler who first gained global recognition for cloning the ripper gene and showing its dysfunction in the brains of psychopaths. Later, as an FBI profiler, Madden achieved further notoriety by sequencing the DNA of the world’s most notorious serial killers and proposing a controversial “damnation algorithm” that could predict serial killer behavior using DNA alone.

Now, a new murderer—the Snow White Killer—is terrorizing women in the Mississippi Delta. When Mara Bliss, Madden’s former fiancée, is kidnapped, he must track down a killer who is always two steps ahead of him. Only by entering the killer’s mind will Madden ultimately understand the twisted and terrifying rationale behind the murders—and have a chance at ending the psychopath’s reign of terror.

I hope you will pop by to find out all about The Ripper Gene.

Normal by Graeme Cameron

A psychological thriller with a serial killer you just might start to like, if you can look past all the dead bodies that is.

It wasn't until I read the conversation with Graeme Cameron in the back of the book that I realised something that I had completely missed. I was so engrossed in the read that I never queried it for one second. I won't tell you what it is though and I wonder if other readers will notice or not.

I think the point the author is trying to make is that he can be and is everyone. He can be the nice neighbour, the loving father, the one night stand or the nameless person stood next to you at the bus-stop. The killer is just so very normal.

Not sure what exactly is more disturbing, the fact he is so normal, whilst being so abnormal or the fact the author has captured the quintessence of him so well. Perhaps a little too well.

The inner dialogue was quite fascinating and revealing. He spends half his time killing and the other half trying to atone for those crimes by perpetrating acts of kindness. When he decides not to kill someone, who happens to wander into his web, that also counts as atonement in his mind.

Why is it different between him and Erica? Why is Erica not dead yet? It is perhaps because he sees something in her that he sees in himself? Or has she changed due to her new circumstances and that change has in turn made him change his attitude towards killing?

Fascinating read that had me shaking my head, speaking out loud to the potential victims, and at one point squinting and reading with one eye closed, because at times the ever so normal killer can be a bit gruesome..
I received a copy of this book courtesy of Harlequin UK and Harlequin MIRA.