FIRST TIME KILLER (edition 2012)

Imagine being a radio talk show host with a large following and a program director that wants you to push the envelope because of a satellite radio deal that may mean millions for everyone that works at the station and you receive a call from someone that calls himself “First Time Killer” and gives directions to where you can find an arm of the person he killed. That is what occurs to Rick Jennings one afternoon. He cuts the caller off, but the arm is found and it is determined that it belonged to an intern that worked at the station. That is the beginning of a story that leads Rick to quit, to come back, and eventually to go after the killer on his own.

The novel gives a view of the listeners of talk radio and how rabid they can become in their following of different radio personalities. They feel safe on the other end of a phone line and no can physically reach them. The novel also shows how some people in the industry push to get higher ratings and that is all that they are concerned with, rather it is the “shock jock” or the directors of the radio programming. It becomes a battle between what is descent and the struggle for ratings.

It is a very interesting book and easy to read. It has its twists and turns as any good mystery should have and it keeps the reader guessing right up to the end. It is a very good read. ( )

Wow! I wasn’t quite sure just what I was getting into when I started reading FIRST TIME KILLER. What I got was a wild ride. FIRST TIME KILLER is written in first person and a very well done first person at that. That is a style that is often attempted but very rarely done well. I want to give kudos to Mr. Allen for mastering the style.

Rick Jennings is under pressure from Celia to bring up the ratings so that the Afternoon Circus can be syndicated through satellite when he receives a caller that identifies himself as a first time killer. The ratings soar but Rick really questions whether or not he is letting his dignity and standards fall by the wayside.

We are also introduced to several secondary characters who contribute to the story such as Rick’s family, and longtime friend Winn. There are also several fans as well as the rest of the crew at the Afternoon Circus. Mr. Allen has a very deft touch with characters as we do really get to know them all through Rick’s eyes.

This is a very tense story with a lot of twists and turns. And I can tell you that I was definitely off base in my thought about just who the killer really is. I was shocked and very impressed by the satisfying conclusion.

If you are looking for a very tight and tension filled thriller, I highly recommend FIRST TIME KILLER. I rate FIRST TIME KILLER a 4.8.

***I received this book at no charge from the author in return for giving a fair and honest review.

Kindle Version (free from author via Library Thing for review)

What do you do if you are a radio host trying to get better ratings to please your boss and then you get the opportunity to make that happen? Well, you would use that opportunity like crazy right?! Well, you may think so, but you man change your mind about that if the opportunity turns out to be a crazed serial killer calling in to tell about his latest and “greatest” kills he has made. Rick is a radio host of a radio show called The Afternoon Circus, which he shares with another host nick named Tin Man. They have been doing this slot since the original host Rhino died. Their goal is to see which of them is the better host and who can draw in the listeners more, then that host gets the whole show. If the ratings are up the radio station also has a chance to seal a deal to go satellite and make millions. To a small radio station this is huge, so Celia (the manager of sorts) is willing to do anything to make sure ratings climb and stay high. The question soon becomes…how far would she really go? Is she somehow connected to the man calling himself First Time Killer, a man that called Rick at the station on air to tell him that he had killed someone and it was someone he knew? When Rick’s world is turned upside down by First Time, he struggles with what to do in the situation. Rick wants to try and help the police find First Time and catch him for the murder he has admitted to on air, but also doesn’t want to put his wife and daughter in danger if he talks to First Time more. As the plot thickens there are more murders, more chaos at work for Rick, more stresses put on his marriage/family by the whole First Time drama, and lots of decisions for Rick to make about his morals/ethics/job. Can he really be a key man to helping stop First Time? Does he really want to be the one to keep First Time talking…on air? Will the serial killer really ever stop just because he talks to Rick about his kills on the air? And more importantly who is First Time and why is he killing in the first place?

I very much enjoyed reading this book. I loved the interesting serial killer-radio twist to the plot. I have read many books that do the serial killer/TV show angle, but I thought the whole radio twist was very unique and very interesting. I loved Rick as a character, he is a good man just doing what he loves to support his small family. He wants nothing more than to just interact with people on the air and help them solve small problems they have or hear their rants about traffic if that is all they want. Boy is he surprised when he gets in the middle of a mad man’s serial killing “game” being played out through talking to him on the radio. The plot of this book was great and the adventure was always underlying the chapters. I also love how the book takes some turns that, as the reader, made me think…”ha, I solved this and I know exactly what will go down” only to make my jaw fall to the floor when not much of what I saw happening did happen. I had a hunch from the start who First Time was and I stuck to that theory all the way through the book…was I right you may ask…well I won’t tell you if I was right completely or not, as that may spoil some of the reading fun for you, but I will say that some things snuck up on me and were very surprising. This book plugs along in true mystery fashion and I think the writing was amazing. I also loved the detail of this book, I really, truly felt like I was there, in the book, seeing what the characters were looking at and doing. Very good read, would recommend to any mystery or serial killer fiction buff out there.

4/5 Stars! ( )

I found this book quite enjoyable - a fun and easy read. Rick Jennings is a radio talk show host. The show he hosts is being considered for satelite radio and the potential of big money. One day he receives a call from a listener who says he has killed someone (he is given the name First Time Killer). Ratings skyrocket as the killer continues to call in and Rick tries to find the killer. I found the characters well developed, the setting really interesting, and the pace quick. When I thought I had the killer identified I found out I was wrong (and this happened not once but twice). Definitely worth the read! ( )

This book was enjoyable and I felt it will keep readers wanting more. It also shows how we can get the wrong impression about friends when we do not know the full truth. ( )