UNSUB / Meg Gardiner

3.5 out of 5 stars

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

A killer summer read.

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are this August, but it’s been unusually hot in our area, plus we are inundated with forest fire smoke from a neighbouring province and the combination is making me lazy. When it’s unpleasant to go outside, why not stay home and read a psychological thriller, right?

Although not the most riveting thriller that I’ve ever read, this one does deliver a tough female protagonist, with the determination to solve the case that got away from her father. Initiated into the nightmare as a youngster, she can’t just sit by and watch when the same apparent Unsub starts up his murderous ways again.

This novel could certainly be read as justification for cultural education for all professions! You never know what the benefits of literature study will be.

I have already recommended that our public library acquire the second book, when it is published in early 2018.