Published by: Corvus
Publication Date: 4th January 2018
ISBN: 9781786493316
Format: Paperback
Price: £12.99
Blurb
Southern California, 1986. Detective Ben Wade has returned to his hometown in search of a quieter life and to try to save his marriage. Suddenly the community, with its peaceful streets and neighbourly concerns, finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer who slips through windows and screen doors at night, shattering illusions of safety.
As Ben and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt struggle to stay one step ahead of the killer – and deal with painful episodes in the past – Ben’s own world is rocked again by violence. He must decide how far he is willing to go, and Natasha how much she is willing to risk, to rescue the town from a psychotic murderer and a long-buried secret.
With eerie, chilling prose, Alan Drew brings us into the treacherous underbelly of a suburban California town in this brilliant novel of suspense; the story of a man, and a community, confronted with the heart of human darkness.
My Review
This novel was engrossing and kept me guessing; at first I wasn’t sure how the two initial murders and Ben’s strange personal habits were entwined, about half-way through I thought the serial killer was a victim of Ben’s abuser too, and had headed back to Santa Elena for revenge, but I was wrong. There are two stories being told here, one of a detective hunting down a serial killer and the other is of a man confronting the abuse in his past. They are the same man, and it is the clever intertwining of the two narratives that brings this story to frightening life.
I found this book very hard to put down, and the writing easy to read. It had a satisfying ending, as both the villains are taken into custody, old ghosts are laid to rest, and the main characters – Ben and Natasha – get their happy ending. The characters are complex and interesting, with realistic motives and reactions to events. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the Californian desert and coast, and found the descriptions of teenage emotional turmoil extremely convincing.
I asked the author about his inspiration, and as I suspected, the Night Stalker murders of Orange County in 1985 and the consequent loss of innocence in the privileged communities of the area were an inspiration for some of the events in the book. He sent me a link to an article he wrote on the subject:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-drew-night-stalker-in-orange-country-20170830-story.html
I definitely recommend this crime thriller to fans of the genre.
4/5
Everything Is Better With Dragons 