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Robert Hunter #7

By: Chris Carter

ISBN: 9781476765716

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler 

Publication Date: 5/30/2017 

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: 4 Stars

Mastermind Chris Carter returns following An Evil Mind with I AM DEATH –a terrifying, dark, intense, and twisted psychological crime thriller, featuring Robert Hunter front and center in a suspense cat-and-mouse "mind-blowing" chase.

For those who enjoy twisty, smart, edgy, intelligent, gruesome, and very dark psycho-thrillers!

Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division grew up as an only child to working class parents in an underprivileged neighborhood of South Los Angeles. His mother lost her battle with cancer when he was only seven and his father never remarried and had to take on two jobs to cope with the demands of raising a child.

He was different. He got bored easily and made his way quickly through school- At the age of twelve Hunter was given a scholarship to the Mirman School for Highly Gifted Children. Only the beginning, making his way to Stanford University. At nineteen he had graduated with a degree in psychology and at twenty-three received his Ph.D. in criminal behavior analysis and biopsychology.

For years the FBI had made attempts to recruit Hunter. Hunter would rather be a detective with the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division than join the most advanced serial killer—tracking force in the US, and even, the world. however, Hunter would rather be a detective with the local police force than join the most advanced serial-killer tracking task force in the USA. He had continued to decline every offer by Kennedy.

In other words, he is brilliant!

Hunter did not have a family and was not married. No kids. An insomniac. His partner of six years, Detective Carlos Garcia was also his best friend. They headed up a specialized group where all the homicides were overwhelming brutality and or sadism had been used by the perpetrator and tagged by the department as UV crimes.

A young woman about to start her second year of law school at Cal State was found by the LA airport and left in a position of a five-point human star. (A protection against evil)? A symbol that has been associated with evil and devil worshipping.

Nichole Wilson from Indiana and was abducted while babysitting for a wealthy couple. Grisly details. A tube of paper. Lacerations; no two the exact same size. Tortured. Violated. Whipped. Two different instruments. Like cutting brushstrokes onto a canvas. Blood inside the brain. A sadistic killer. A note from the killer in blood, I AM DEATH.

The killer had tortured her for almost six days. They had never come across a killer with this level of confidence.

Hunter knew this meant one thing. He did it for one reason. To let everyone know that this wouldn’t end here. A huge ego. Confident. Intelligent. Knowledgeable. Meticulous. He wanted the body found and the note.

Perpetrators who place their victims’ bodies in specific positions or shapes, with the intention of them being found that way are very particular about every detail.

The abduction, the torturing, the killing, the positioning and disposal of the body and the note. Tremendous detail. He wants them to know how good he is. Did the killer make the call?

Nichole Wilson was only the beginning.

From a flight attendant’s corpse to a kidnapped eleven-year-old boy renamed Squirm. A system that failed him. A serial killer. From taunting notes, photographs, to messages from a monster, a fast-paced action-fueled—terrifying sadistic game. A clue to a double meaning.

Gross, dark, gruesome, bloody, chilling, and brilliantly crafted. As always Chris Carter draws on his personal experience and a pro at creating the most heinous and intelligent of evil psychological crime thrillers. He knows monsters.

An unpredictable twist at the end wraps up another winner by Carter!

A special thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an early reading copy.

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