Nancy Graves was leaving a wine bar after celebrating her birthday with friends when she was taken. Unfortunately, her abductor had ghastly plans in store for her. Detective Tom Grant is assisting his technology-hampered boss in opening an email when they are tipped to the location of the late Ms. Graves. The crime scene hints at the brutality of the murder. Grant and his boss, Ed Morgan, handle the preliminaries of the investigation only to be floored by a subsequent abduction and murder. The possibility of a serial killer unnerves Grant and Morgan, but further correspondence from the UNSUB toying with the detectives drives the men to keep digging for clues to aid in the unmasking of a madman. The city of London, Ontario, will be sleeping with one eye open until the case is solved.

The author has expertly crafted an edge-of-your-seat mystery/thriller that continually looks for ways to unsettle the reader. Grant is an experienced cop who has seen a fair amount in his tenure, but the narrative reveals how the cruel nature of this killer has affected him. The violent world he wants to keep away from his family is starting to creep in. Rowbottom writes deftly of the intricacies of a homicide investigation while also counterbalancing it with the schizophrenic world of an unstable killer. The author doesn’t go overboard in his description of the violence, instead relying on a creeping dread to slowly build as the killer continues to sow chaos and death. This is a fine detective novel that will likely cause a few sleepless nights.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review

Return to USR Home