On, Off

It is 1965. The body parts of a young woman are accidentally discovered in the research lab of a Connecticut Ivy League university. As the killer becomes more diabolical and the body count rises, Investigator Carmine Delmonico finds himself faced with a savvy rapist/killer. Since the art of detection using profiling and forensics is not yet far advanced, Delmonico must develop his own theories. Lewis Grenville gives an understated reading of this truly bloodcurdling mystery, but his slow pacing and comfortable voice prove too laid-back for the mayhem. Still, as Delmonico searches for "the Ghost," sorting through a large cast of potential suspects and red herrings, McCullough's clever plotting will keep listeners guessing. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

April 10, 2006
Australian McCullough (The Thorn Birds
) portrays one of the creepiest serial killers in recent fiction in this intelligent shocker set in 1965 at an Ivy League university called Chubb located in Holloman, Conn. After an animal lab technician finds a partial corpse in the Hughlings Jackson Center for Neurological Research (aka "Hug"), police lieutenant Carmine Delmonico discovers that this murder is only one of many—with more to come—committed by a meticulous serial rapist/killer who saves the heads of his victims. The monster leaves so few clues that Delmonico calls him "the Ghost" and the newspapers "the Connecticut Monster." Despite the lack of fancy forensic tools, the determined detective discovers that the Ghost may be connected to a 1930s cold case. Adding heat to the investigation is the African-American community's outrage at the killer's preference for young women of mixed racial origins and Delmonico's growing romantic attachment to an endangered Hug employee.