This is a serial killer novel to end serial killer novels.
Dr Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who is consulted from time to time by the Metropolitan Police to profile serial killers. But her last assignment did not end well when her advice was rejected, meaning the wrong man was put on trial and subsequently acquitted, leaving the real serial killer on the loose. Recriminations all round, but Detective Superintendent Steve Preston, a long time friend of Fiona, unjustly bears the brunt of the blame.
Dr Cameron remains in demand, though. There is a serial killer plying his trade in Spain and Fiona is persuaded to fly in to help the Spanish police. Her live-in boyfriend, Kit Martin, goes along for the trip. He is a writer, of crime novels, including one featuring a serial killer.
That occupation is not good news, as the mutilated body of a crime writer has just been found in Edinburgh. Then another is discovered in Ireland, and it begins to look like there is yet another serial killer (that makes three) on the loose, this one targeting authors who write novels featuring serial killers.
Fiona’s offer to help (fuelled by concern that Kit may be next on the list) falls on deaf ears. When a third death is confirmed, and Kit goes missing, she takes matters into her own hands. She has sussed that the killer mirrors the MO used by the murderer in each author’s book, and that sends her off to the Scottish Highlands on a rescue mission.
The book takes a while to get going (the sojourn to Spain seems an irrelevance) but once the Kit hits the fan, the pace picks up and accelerates to a tense climax. However, for me the characters did not convince, the relationship between Fiona and Kit too lovey-dovey, not to mention strange given that Fiona’s motivation for her career is the murder of her sister at the hands of a killer, the like of whom her boyfriend arguably glamourises in his work. A sub-plot involving Superintendent’s Preston’s love life also stretches credibility.
A bit of a
pot-boiler, engaging enough if you don’t think too much about it.
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