Douglas Borton

“The sound made him shiver.”

The sound being that of bones cracking. Courtesy of The Gryphon, a serial killer that is terrorizing Los Angeles. A serial killer that Detective Sebastian Júarez Delgado is determined to stop!

The Gryphon decapitates his victims and then leaves a clay gryphon in one of their hands. Pretty gruesome stuff. Some a bit hard to read, including necrophilia, rape, and the aforementioned beheadings. As to the story itself, it starts strong, and slowly, slowly gets show more weaker. The love story is terrible, and the meek victim turning into the super tough-as-nails survivor is hard to believe. I don't think that 24 hours is enough for either plot point to be possible. But none-the-less, they are in here. I did like that the point of view shifted often between the killer, the detective, and the heroine and it moved the story along at a nice pace. Gross, but good! show less

Jack Dance is the cleverest, nastiest, and most accomplished sociopath ever to grace the pages of a thriller. With no conscience and a devil-may-care attitude, this smiling, tune-humming, horribly handsome serial killer will make you shudder. His cavalier attitude when engaged in murder, his complete and utter lack of humanity, and the pairing of these attributes with the most cunning criminal mind of the century will linger in your mind long after you’ve finished the book.

Jack had a bad show more experience when he was eleven. It had something to do with a blue-eyed blond named Meredith. And after stewing in hot rage for many years, he finally takes action. Her murder—his first—whets his appetite for what is to becomes a ritualistic re-killing of Meredith, over and over again.

Aside from being a superb writer—I say this with complete honesty and zero exaggeration—Mr. Prescott is a talented plot twister who maintains tension and never, ever lets it slacken. Once you’ve read (or listened) to his books such at Stealing Faces, Blind Pursuit, or Mortal Pursuit, you’ll learn that you’d best store up some extra adrenaline for the guaranteed ride to come. Deadly Pursuit is relentless in its suspense, and your favorite protagonist will be sure to partake of many successions of satisfying chase scenes with the villain. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: when it comes to writing thrillers, Mr. Prescott leads the pack.

Steve and Kirstie Gardner head for a vacation on Pelican Key, the place of Steve’s childhood summer vacations, where he and his pal Jack Dance explored and clambered over the ruins of the old lime plantation. Now the house has been restored, and it beckons to Stephen with an inexplicable urgency. He needs to be there. He craves the connection to his youth. And he worries that maybe—just maybe—secrets from his past might follow.

The problem arises when Jack Dance happens to seek refuge on the same island when the feds begin to link him to the murders of the now infamous “Mister Twister.” When Jack bumps into Kirstie on the beach, his thirst for blood surges, because as luck would have it, she looks a lot like Meredith.

I won’t spoil the plot by telling you more. Just rest assured that the ride is torturous and deliciously scary.

This book is much more than a thriller—it’s also a story that transports you from your armchair to a tropical island. I love novels with a sumptuous “sense of place.” Deadly Pursuit propels the reader smack dab in the sultry humidity of the Florida Keys. I’ve never been there, but felt thoroughly connected thanks to Mr. Prescott’s descriptions of the lush flowers, trees, wildlife and ecosystem. I am certain he must have frequented the location in person, so beautifully drawn were the scenes.

I happened to experience this book in audio book format. The narrator, Christopher Burns, has an uncanny knack for voices, especially for the carefree, jaunty inner voice of a serial killer. It “creeped me out” as my kids would say, to listen to this sociopath in such an intimate fashion. Well done, Mr. Prescott and Mr. Burns!

Highly recommended for adults by Aaron Paul Lazar, lazarbooks.com show less

Really two tales, one an autobiography by Jack the Ripper and the other an agonizing cluster of guilt and fear by suspected descendents of Jack living in modern day Venice, CA. Siblings Jennifer and Richard lived in a historical house allegedly built by their great grandfather and lived in by their family. Jack the Ripper was suspected to have either medical or butcher training. Jennifer and Richard's fore bearers had all been doctors and both Jennifer and Richard started Medical Degrees show more with Jennifer changing to an Dr. of Psychology degree while Richard completed an M.D.. Richard showed symptoms of mental illness by his mid-twenties but, was able to maintain it in control with medication. Jennifer's work as a criminal profiler and studies that included the history of Jack the Ripper primed her for an exposure to a trigger event when a portion of her basement wall collapsed during a small quake exposing a macabre cache of old bones and a diary of Edward Hare detailing his gruesome butchery and caching of the found bones. By this time, Richard was off his meds and both he and his older sister feared their suspected association with their infamous ancestor. Young girls were going missing in Venice and Jennifer agonized over sharing her fears with her police cohorts or trying to find Richard and safely rescuing him and making Venice safe. All the evidence points to Richard but, Jennifer feels the family responsibility of a protecting older sister and is determined to care for Richard even at the expense of her own life. As the story evolves with suspense and chair edging tension, outside elements make themselves known and the story stretches into unknown areas, making a twisting chilling ending to an action packed, engaging story. show less

In Dark Places was a fast moving, entertaining thrill ride. But in this book like the last one I read, I found a few issues. Again, in this book, none of the characters were all too like able. I mean, when you are actually rooting for the serial killer part of the time, even though it was part of the plot twist, something isn't right. Which brings up another problem, too many plot twists, it started getting old near the end. My final problem again, was overdetailedness. So much needless info show more packed into an already long book just makes it feel that much longer. For example, when Dr. Cameron meets Wolper at the cafe or whatever, why did we need to know about the comic book shop across the way getting hit? We didn't, and I'm glad I just skimmed that paragraph.
Now it might seem that with all these complaints I didn't enjoy the book, which couldn't be further from the truth. It was a very enjoyable read, and I always wanted to keep going to know what would happen next. The complaints are pretty minor, and if you don't get "creeped out" to easily, this book is a fun read. Oh yeah, that was another thing, this author also seemed to be trying to go heavy on the "creep out" factor. Again I didn't mind to much, but sometimes it feels like the authors try to pack it in as much as they can just for the heck of it. show less