The Impaler

December 6, 2010
In Funaro's uninspired second thriller, the prequel to The Sculptor, FBI special agent Sam Markham, newly relocated to North Carolina, is tormented by the death of his wife at the hands of a murderer whose execution is imminent and whose attempts to apologize only disgust him. While dealing with nightmares from that trauma, Markham must also apprehend "Vlad the Impaler," a psychopath who impales each of his victims on a stake. The three victims—a gang member, a solid student, and a criminal defense attorney—appear to have nothing in common. Markham comes to believe that the positioning of the corpses may be the result of the Impaler's desire to replicate the Ottoman symbol for Islam. A long stretch explaining the origins of Vlad's evil brings the action to a screeching halt. Thomas Harris fans who expect a profiler and his quarry to be fully developed characters will be disappointed.