Paul Devlin, now a police chief in rural Vermont after being forced to retire from the NYPD, returns to the big city in a clever, well-paced thriller. His old pal, detective Eddie Grogan, asks him to play guardian angel to Adrianna Mendez, Eddie's goddaughter and current target of a serial killer on the loose in New York. Although it is a mite awkward--Adrianna dumped Paul a decade ago because she didn't want to spend her life with a cop--Paul moves in with Adrianna while unofficially aiding Eddie in the investigation, which is hampered by ``political crap'' and a pair of arrogant FBI agents called in by the mayor. Eddie gets psychiatrist Gabrielle Lyons to probe Adrianna's memory for clues while he and Paul take a close look at the fashionable friends Adrianna is making as an up-and-coming artist. But soon the killer makes a new, atypical strike and Paul's old, powerful NYPD enemy catches a whiff of his presence on the case. Although not even the most pessimistic reader can believe that Adrianna will be ushered into the next world, Heffernan ( Blood Rose ) lays out his clues and plot twists with a dark glee that amuses and draws one along in his wake.
A serial killer in NYC targets young, beautiful, talented women and subjects them to months of agony hideously disfiguring them before they are savagely slain.
(from the back) For the uncatchable serial killer, murder was only the climax the real fury was in the preparation!!!
