Signature Kill

January 19, 2015
In Levien’s solid fourth Frank Behr novel (after 2011’s Thirteen Million Dollar Pop), the Indianapolis, Ind., PI can’t resist going after the $100,000 reward offered by widow Kerry Gibbons for finding her grown daughter, Kendra, whose disappearance has been advertised on billboards. Behr, a former cop, chases down routine leads without much to show for it. He later connects with Indianapolis police detective Gary Breslau, who’s investigating the murder and dismemberment of an unidentified young woman. Digging through case files and getting some help from a profiler and a crime-scene photographer, Behr finds a startling number of similar dismemberment crimes. Kendra fits the mold of those victims. While Behr hunts the sadistic killer, the killer continues to stalk, torture, and dismember more women. Behr sets a trap that only serves to anger the fiend. Behr is a complex and compelling sleuth, though readers should be prepared for some gruesome murder scenes. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Agency.

January 15, 2015
When a sex killer terrorizes Indianapolis, ex-cop Frank Behr (Thirteen Million Dollar Pop, 2011, etc.) swings into action, with darkly mixed results.His subzero bank balance prompts Frank to call on Kerry Gibbons, who's offering a $100,000 reward for information about her daughter, Kendra, who disappeared more than a year ago. Making preliminary inquires among the people he considers his contacts, Behr soon learns that his friendships, like his finances, are running on fumes. Lt. Gary Breslau of the Indianapolis Metro PD keeps him at arm's length. Frank's old training officer, bar owner Gene Sasso, indicates that Frank's extended silence has all but burned the bridge between them. Forensic pathologist Jean Gannon has retired from practice. Even Behr's girlfriend, Susan, has moved out, taking their baby son, Trevor. Meanwhile, interspersed chapters that become harder and harder to read track the killer as he stalks, abducts, tortures, kills and photographs the latest in what turns out to be a long series of victims. Luckily, Behr finds new helpers to replace the friends who've dropped out, or dropped him. Criminal psychologist Lisa Mistretta is so avid to collaborate with Behr that they end up in bed. And crime scene photographer Django Quinn gets close enough to the killer to rue the day he was born. There's never any doubt that Behr will get his man, but what happens when he does will make your hair stand on end. The combination of peerlessly depressive Behr and the formulaic serial-killer plot produces a thriller at once mordant, grueling and routine.

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February 1, 2015
Levien's gripping novel takes all the genre's weary old wheezes, perks them up, and makes them almost new again. We have hero Frank Behr, descendant of a gazillion ex-cops struggling to survive as PIs. His private life is, like theirs, a mess. He's forever bothering an old pal on the force, who chews him out but loves him all the same. How else can he get access to official files? And, oh yes, the villain is a serial killer. Levien is such a masterful storyteller, however, that another clich' can't put it down holds true here, too. Behr tries to make a much-needed buck by seeking the reward money offered by the mother of a vanished girl. His plod from clue to clue toward the heart of the bloody mystery is narrated with uncommon skill and energy. But readers should be warned that descriptions of the killer at work can be excessively graphic, and that Behrhere's another stock itemdefeats a monster by becoming one. For those who can take it, this is a stunning thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)