About the Book: I want to talk to Smoky Barrett or I’ll kill myself.”

The girl is sixteen, at the scene of a grisly triple homicide, and has a gun to her head. She claims “The Stranger” killed her adoptive family, that he’s been following her all her life, killing everyone she ever loved, and that no one believes her.

No one has. Until now.

Special Agent Smoky Barrett is head of the violent crimes unit in Los Angeles, the part of the FBI reserved for tracking down the worst of the worst. Her team has been handpicked from among the nation’s elite law enforcement specialists and they are as obsessed and relentless as the psychos they hunt; they’ll have to be to deal with this case.

For another vicious double homicide reveals a killer embarked on a dark crusade of trauma and death: an “artist” who’s molding sixteen-year-old Sarah into the perfect victim — and the ultimate weapon. But Smoky Barrett has another, more personal reason for catching The Stranger — an adopted daughter and a new life that are worth protecting at any cost.

This time Smoky is going to have to put it all on the line. Because The Stranger is all too real, all too close, and all too relentless. And when he finally shows his face, if she’s not ready to confront her worst fear, Smoky won’t have time to do anything but die.

My Review: This is my first book by Cody McFadyen, but it won’t be my last. This is one of the more horrifying serial killer books I’ve read, because the main objective of the serial killer was to strip a living victim of all hope and love.

Even though there were 592 pages in this book, I zipped through them to see what was going to happen. I should mention that this book is very dark. I honestly wondered at times how some of the characters could feel like they could go on living after having endured so much. This was a main idea of the book..exploring life after having lived through so very many dark things. These occasional philosophical explorations gave a bit of depth to this story.

Also this is a male author writing from a first person point of view female. This is always a challenge, and McFadyen does a fine job. The character of Smoky is an interesting one, she’s endured a lot and is still fighting for some sort of life.

I did guess the killer way before the end of the book, but there was still a twist in store for me. There’s plenty of action, a rich assortment of characters, and a great tragic mystery making this a fantastic page turner though I don’t recommend reading it alone late at night!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

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