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Summary
Summary
Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the bestuntil a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him deadbut her life was shattered forever. Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again. She dreams about placing the cold steel between her lips and pulling the trigger one last time. Because for a woman who's lost everything, what is there left to lose? She's about to find out. In all her years at the Bureau, Smoky has never encountered anyone like hima new and fascinating kind of monster, a twisted genius who defies profilers' attempts to understand him. And he's issued Smoky a direct challenge, coaxing her back from the brink with the only thing that could convince her to live. The killer videotaped his latest crimean act of horror that left a child motherlessthen sent a message addressed to Agent Smoky Barrett. The message is enough to shock Smoky back to work, back to her FBI team. And that child awakens something in Smoky she thought was gone forever. Suddenly the stakes are raised. The game has changed. For as this deranged monster embarks on an unspeakable spree of perversion and murder, Smoky is coming alive againand she's about to face her greatest fears as a cop, a woman, a mother...and a merciless killer's next victim.
Author Notes
Cody McFadyen was born in Texas in February 1968. He pursued writing at the age of 35 and publishd his first novel and international bestseller, Shadow Man, in 2005. Before publishing his first novel, he was a website designer. His novel, Abandoned, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2015.
McFadyen enjoys reading and playing guitar. He lives in California with his two black labs.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This disturbing serial killer drama set in California marks a promising debut for McFadyen, who combines many conventions of the genre but with far more exquisite, intricate results than the norm. FBI agent Smoky Barrett, a haunted, complicated woman, leads a team of investigators assigned to a serial killer task force. Barrett, who escaped the clutches of a different serial killer a year earlier but lost her husband and daughter in the attack, is now tracking a madman known as "Jack Jr.," who believes he's a descendant of Jack the Ripper. He mauls women, mostly prostitutes with Web sites, then sends the videotapes of the killings to Barrett and her crew. The plot follows a typical arc, complete with some nauseating details and predictable twists. There's also a romance between Barrett and a bodyguard that seems tacked on for future installments. Yet McFadyen's writing is crisp and smart, and his scenes pack a visceral punch without being cheap or exploitative. Barrett, for her part, is a memorable protagonist, a deeply troubled woman trying to move on from tragedy, yet possessing special insight into the criminal mind. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
"Jack Jr.," a serial killer modeling himself after Jack the Ripper, stalks the Internet for victims. Mean sites on the Internet have become the mean streets of contemporary thrillers, as this debut makes clear. Although plenty of nasty action plays out in San Francsico and L.A., the more compelling parts of McFadyen's pursuit center on the net, where capture and survival become a matter of tracking website sign-on names, IPs (Internet protocol numbers) and user IDs. Faced with taking on a new case, FBI agent Smoky Barrett feels shaky. She's Annie Oakley with a pistol and her early work at the Bureau was stellar. Then she killed a man who had just murdered her husband and daughter, but not before the culprit raped Smoky and scarred her face and body. Smoky realizes she must return to work when high-school friend Annie King is brutally murdered. The agent is shocked to learn that Annie had been the star performer on an Internet sex site. The killer, Smoky discovers, envisions himself as Jack Jr., a latter day Jack the Ripper determined to kill the whores working the net. Scrutinizing a video the killer made of the murder, Smoky and staff discern two killers at work and they wonder if the stalker, like a deadly computer virus, is recruiting other killers from sexually demented surfers salivating over porn websites. Even more disconcerting are Jack Jr.'s e-mails to Smoky and staff. He taunts them by revealing he knows intimate details of their lives and their homes. Emboldened, he suggests he's coming after Smoky. The final race through streets and cyberspace heads to a confrontation that's violent and suspenseful, and a revelation that's rather startling--at least to readers who have never seen a 1980s Brian De Palma movie. Brisk and fascinating. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A serial killer murdered FBI agent Smokey Barrett's husband and daughter. Smokey killed the fiend but was left deeply scarred. Now, after spending time contemplating suicide, Smokey finds herself drawn back into the game . . . by a new killer who has addressed his latest crime to her personally. First-time novelist McFadyen writes like an old pro, acknowledging the conventions of the serial-killer thriller without being slavishly devoted to them. Smokey, the not-quite-five-foot-tall, sharp-shooting FBI agent, is no standard-issue heroine, and her nemesis, the killer who calls himself Jack Jr., is both chilling and strangely compassionate. A series to watch. --David Pitt Copyright 2006 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Don't abandon all hope, ye who enter. McFadyen's debut opens with Special Agent Smoky Barrett in a downward spiral after the murder of her husband and young daughter as well as her own torture, rape, and disfigurement at the hands of a serial killer. One of the driving forces behind her return to the FBI is the emergence of a new serial killer, Jack Jr., who claims to be a descendant of Jack the Ripper. Jack relishes taunting his worthy adversary, Smoky, and her elite team to bring to an end his torture, rape, and murder of women who prostitute themselves over the Internet. As women continue to die and Jack's crimes become increasingly personal for Smoky and her team, the race is on to determine Jack's true identity and stop him. Narrated in the first person by Smoky, the mystery builds to a crescendo that leaves the reader with a surprise twist at the finale. Warning: McFadyen doesn't flinch in his graphic descriptions of violence, so this book is definitely not for the squeamish. Recommended for large public library fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/06.]-Susan O. Moritz, National Gallery of Art Lib., Washington, DC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.