The White Feather Killer

Starred review from May 1, 2018
London 1914. Police Inspector Silas Quinn faces a daunting case when three men commit suicide in horribly violent ways, after first discarding their clothing. All three sets of clothes are identical?worn corduroy suits. Only Quinn understands the significance of this; after all, he himself was once a patient at Colney Hatch Asylum for the hopelessly insane. And Colney Hatch is also where Timon Medway, a self-described reincarnation of Sir Isaac Newton and Jesus Christ and also one of the most brutal child killers the country has ever seen, is incarcerated. Quinn believes Medway may be using his considerable mental powers to hypnotize patients recently released from Colney Hatch and send them to their deaths; he also fears that the suicides may relate to an experiment led by the asylum's medical staff. Of course, this bizarre theory gets short shrift from both Quinn's colleagues and his boss, and he's told to drop the case. He's convinced there's something very dangerous going on, but how to prove it? Unless he takes the risky step of going undercover and readmitting himself to Colney Hatch. Bleak, original, and absolutely gripping, this historical thriller makes for an unsettling and compelling read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)