UNSUB--A Novel

Starred review from April 17, 2017
Near the start of this outstanding series launch from Edgar-winner Gardiner (Phantom Instinct), Caitlin Hendrix, a detective with San Francisco’s Narcotics Task Force, visits a crime scene in an Alameda County cornfield—a brutal double murder. The killer pounded nails into the chests of the two victims, forming the symbol for mercury, the hallmark of the notorious serial killer known as the Prophet who struck the Bay Area during the 1990s, then disappeared. The Prophet is no stranger to Caitlin: her father, Mack Hendrix, was the lead detective on the original case, which left him an emotional wreck and tore his family apart. Soon reassigned to homicide, Caitlin is determined to bring the unsub—or unknown subject—down this time and finish what her father started. As the body count rises, the stakes become even more personal, as the Prophet targets those closest to Caitlin. Taut pacing and sympathetic characters play against a terrifying villain, who will crawl beneath your skin and trouble your sleep. Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel. Five-city author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents.

May 1, 2017
Move over, Zodiac. The latest of the countless fictional serial killers you've inspired gives you a blistering run for your money.Two decades after a mysteriously self-limited five-year murder spree that cost 11 Bay Area citizens their lives and cost Alameda County Sheriff's Department Detective Mack Hendrix his partner, his peace of mind, and much of his sanity, the killer whom police departments in two Bay Area counties have dubbed the Prophet roars back with a vengeance. Mack's daughter, Caitlin, a newly minted Narcotics detective with the ACSD, is detailed to Homicide in hopes that she can make use of her father's encyclopedic knowledge of the case. Ignoring her distraught mother's advice that "you're throwing yourself into the volcano," Caitlin struggles to tap Mack's memory for forgotten insights, fight off the attentions of obnoxious East Bay Herald reporter Bart Fletcher, and anticipate the next move of the Prophet, aka Mercury. The Prophet meanwhile dispatches two pairs of victims--a waitress and a supermarket checker are whipped, strangled, and nailed to death, and the deaths of two partners are broadcast live in a coffee shop to a horrified audience in an unforgettably grueling set piece--but has to settle for only one of still another pair he's targeted. Along the way, he leaves a series of taunting notes addressed to the wider public before focusing in particular on Caitlin, who luckily turns out to be just as clever as her diabolical prey when it matters most. Every detail Gardiner (Phantom Instinct, 2014, etc.) uses to grease the skids is over-the-top, but readers sucked into this vortex won't care; they'll be too busy counting down the hours to the appearance of the promised sequel, which seems poised to begin about five minutes after the final scene.

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May 1, 2017
Twenty years ago, narcotics detective Caitlin Hendrix's father failed to catch the Prophet, a cunning serial killer in the Bay Area, and it sent him into a decades-long alcoholic spiral. Now, the Prophet has ended his two-decade hiatus, leaving his signature astrological symbol with the bodies of a couple killed on their first date. Determined to stop the killer who destroyed her family, Caitlin manages to swing an assignment to the task force. As the Prophet works at breakneck speed, the task force struggles to decipher his cryptic messages and the connections between the pairs of victims he leaves with each round of killings. When the Prophet discovers that the daughter of his nemesis is working the case, he targets her with taunts, leaving a wealth of clues that could be his undoing or a trap leading Caitlin to hers. Based on the unsolved crimes of the real-life Zodiac Killer, this thriller is well crafted and psychologically complex, easily comparable to Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2017

In this latest from Edgar Award winner Gardiner, the UNSUB (that is, unknown subject) is the Prophet, a serial killer who ran roughshod over the Bay Area in the 1990s (just like the Zodiac killer). The father of narcotics detective Caitlin Hendrix was lead investigator on the unsolved case, which destroyed his career. Now bodies are turning up that bear the signature of the Prophet, and Caitlin gets involved. The start of a new series.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2017

The Prophet, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area for five years in the 1990s, is back. Law enforcement authorities turn first to retired detective Mack Hendrix, who led the old case and whose partner was the last of the Prophet's 11 victims. Mack was so consumed and damaged by the Prophet case that he's now mentally unstable, but his daughter Caitlin, a narcotics detective with the sheriff's department, wants in on the new case. A newbie in homicide who has to learn to keep her thoughts to herself, Caitlin is the one who puzzles out the Prophet's chilling grand plan and takes the lead in the final operation that threatens those nearest and dearest to her. This skillfully plotted story, replete with graphic violence (a nail gun figures prominently) ratchets up suspense to its cliff-hanging epilog that begs for a sequel. VERDICT Edgar Award-winning author Gardiner, long praised for developing full-bodied characters while spinning intense psychological thrillers, does herself proud here. Think Thomas Harris at his most frightening, and hope to see more of Caitlin Hendrix. [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/17.]--Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017

The Prophet, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area for five years in the 1990s, is back. Law enforcement authorities turn first to retired detective Mack Hendrix, who led the old case and whose partner was the last of the Prophet's 11 victims. Mack was so consumed and damaged by the Prophet case that he's now mentally unstable, but his daughter Caitlin, a narcotics detective with the sheriff's department, wants in on the new case. A newbie in homicide who has to learn to keep her thoughts to herself, Caitlin is the one who puzzles out the Prophet's chilling grand plan and takes the lead in the final operation that threatens those nearest and dearest to her. This skillfully plotted story, replete with graphic violence (a nail gun figures prominently) ratchets up suspense to its cliff-hanging epilog that begs for a sequel. VERDICT Edgar Award-winning author Gardiner, long praised for developing full-bodied characters while spinning intense psychological thrillers, does herself proud here. Think Thomas Harris at his most frightening, and hope to see more of Caitlin Hendrix. [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/17.]--Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.