Red 1-2-3

October 7, 2013
A frustrated, aging novelist plots to finally make his mark by meticulously planning three murders, to be subsequently linked in a sensational tell-all, in this twisted riff on Red Riding Hood from bestseller Katzenbach (What Comes Next). Targeting a diverse trio of titian-haired women within convenient stalking distance of his Massachusetts home, the self-styled Big Bad Wolf sets his sadistic scheme in motion with death threats to his “Reds”: stressed internist Karen Jayson; depressed widow Sarah Locksley; and defiant prep-school student Jordan Ellis. He proceeds to manipulate his panicking quarry, as well as his clueless wife, describing his activities with almost sensuous pleasure in his manuscript. But then the Reds manage to contact one another, and the game changes as they battle ingeniously to turn the tables. Katzenbach creates a convincing triad of sympathetic women who grow through their harrowing trials, but whether the payoff is enough to justify spending significant time with the Wolf remains a question of personal preference. Agent: Moses Cardona, John Hawkins and Associates.

December 15, 2013
A disturbed author and devotee of crime fiction who views writing and killing as parts of the same intimate process targets three redheaded women in what he considers the grandest homicidal scheme ever. It has been 15 years since the Big Bad Wolf, as he calls himself, published a novel or killed anyone to give himself source material. After a series of well-received books, he suffered a decline in sales and attention. Attempting a comeback in his New England town, he plans on killing in quick succession a middle-aged internist, Karen, who practices stand-up comedy at night (Red 1); a young teacher, Sarah (Red 2), who has turned to vodka and barbiturates to get over the deaths of her husband and child in an accident; and a troubled high school basketball player, Jordan (Red 3), angry over her parents' divorce. What BBW doesn't envision is that after delivering a letter to each of these targets informing them they have been "selected" for death, they will cope with their fears, discover each other and attempt to turn the plot against him. When Mrs. Big Bad Wolf, the killer's meek but inquisitive wife, senses something amiss is going on behind his locked office door, BBW has another complication for which he was not prepared. No less methodical than his killer, Katzenbach (What Comes Next, 2012, etc.; three of his previous novels have been made into films) lays out the book's premise with efficiency. The bonding of the damsels in distress lends a strong human element to the proceedings and a touch of dark humor. Ultimately, the novel fails to deliver more than a few medium chills, and the climax is a letdown. But the suggestion there may be a sequel is as intriguing as it is welcome. "Little Red Riding Hood" has been taken on scarier spins in recent times, but the age-old tale provides a lively premise for this thriller about stalked women.

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Starred review from November 1, 2013
In the familiar cautionary tale about the little girl and the big bad wolf, the child wears a red hood. In Katzenbach's skillful contemporary version, red hair attracts the predator, who targets not one but three vulnerable females, unknown to one another. Mr. Big Bad Wolf, a meticulous, confident, unprepossessing crime writer (who bases his books on crimes he commits), has been inactive for a number of years, but his new ideakilling all three women on the same dayis simply too thrilling to pass up. He's convinced that his project will regenerate his moribund career and spice up his humdrum home life. After many weeks, he is finally ready to put his plan into action, and he's virtually salivating at the prospect. Mr. BBW's work notes clearly reveal his megalomania as well as how he very deliberately chose and stalked his prey. First there's Karen, a lonely, middle-aged doctor, oldest of the three; then Sarah, a grief-stricken widow who has turned to alcohol and pills; finally, teenage Jordan, smart but directionless, whose parents are too wrapped up in their divorce to care about her. Wolf is convinced his brilliant, scrupulously detailed plan can't fail. After all, who will miss these damaged women? Unfortunately, there's something he never considered. It's called group dynamics. Like Katzenbach's What Comes Next (2012), this is a page-turner from the get-go and must reading for thriller fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)