We've arrived at the first stop of our epic thirteen month blogathon celebrating the Robert Hunter series by Chris Carter. And as you would expect we're starting at the beginning with the first book in the series, The Crucifix Killer. Many thanks to Teach Fenton for the invitation to be involved. I read from my own Kindle copy of the book.
The Blurb
When the body of a young woman is discovered in a derelict cottage in Los Angeles, Robert Hunter is thrown into a nightmare case. The victim suffered a terrible death, and on the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer.
But that's impossible. Because two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this therefore be a copycat killer? Or could the unthinkable be true? Is the real killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious and violent killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Robert Hunter with his inability to catch him?
Hunter and his rookie partner, Garcia, need to solve this case, and fast.
I've had the first eight Robert Hunter books on my Kindle, unread, for an embarrassingly long time - this blogathon was the perfect excuse for me to finally get into them. I went into The Crucifix Killer expecting dark, but what I got was DARK! Chris Carter has got some imagination! Fortunately, I like my crime on the dark side (not sure what that says about me!) - this certainly fits that brief!
Hunter and Garcia are called to a murder scene in the wee small hours of night. The deserted house is creepy enough, but the body they find is...well, in a horrific state. But what's really terrifying is that the dead woman bears the mark of a killer who is no longer around. Or so everybody thought... A new nightmare begins for Hunter, Garcia and their colleagues.
The Crucifix Killer opens with one heck of a bang! It sets you up and draws you in and certainly gives you a feel of what's to come. Then it's time to draw a (very quick) breath before you'll be back in the thick of the action. There is a sense of urgency throughout the book, certainly from the point of view of the police. And the reader, I think - there certainly was for me. From the killer's point of view, the urgency is less pronounced but they clearly have an agenda. Similarly, there's a sense of dread throughout. And it is quite chilling - I might have left the landing light on for a couple of nights when I was reading this...
Robert Hunter is a really interesting character. Youthful, attractive and fiercely intelligent. A child prodigy, he whizzed through education, and read all he could lay his hands on, it would seem. But he doesn't seem to have a big head, which I liked, and he is an honest cop, with a loyalty to his partner and the wider team. His department deal with the nastiest murder cases and we do see the toll that takes on both him and Garcia. The police work in this book is not glamorised in any way. And I loved the facts that are provided as part of the narrative but presented seamlessly - I found them really interesting. The only thing I didn't particularly like was that descriptions of people tended to be almost a list of their features, outfits, etc, all in a sentence of two. I don't know, it just felt like too much tell, not enough show. But this was a teeny niggle.
The storyline is tense throughout, and the author doesn't hold back on the graphic details of the murders. It's not for the fainthearted. As a result, this book, and series, won't be for everyone. But it certainly got my heart racing and kept me hooked. I did guess the killer just before it was revealed, but hadn't worked out the reasons why.
The Crucifix Thriller is a cat and mouse thriller, a heart thumping race against time, a far cry from the usual police procedural. Robert Hunter is an engaging central character, (although I also loved Garcia) and it's great to see the author's own background in criminal psychology come through the writing. A really exciting read, I'm stealing must ahead of the next one!
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