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(More customer reviews)"Feel free to indulge your darkest fantasies.", December 8, 2007
By E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States)
In P. D. Martin's "The Murderers' Club," four psychopaths communicate with one another via an online chat room. Led by their president, whose screen name is "American Psycho," the club members have one thing in common: an affinity for torture and murder. They choose their prey carefully, preferring loners who are less likely to be missed. Once the predators have their victims under control, they brutalize and strangle them.
The narrator is thirty-five year old Special Agent Sophie Anderson, who hails from Australia and relocated to Virginia to work as a profiler for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Six months ago, she nearly lost her life at the hands of the "DC Slasher." Since then, she has been seeing a bureau psychologist and putting in quite a few hours at the gym and firing range. She is also practicing kung fu and other body conditioning exercises to get in top shape so that if the need arises, she will be able to defend herself. Sophie may be physically strong, but she suffers from chronic anxiety and insomnia. She hopes that her forthcoming trip to Arizona as the guest of detective Darren Carter will provide the rest and recreation that she needs. Unfortunately, her stay in Tucson proves to be anything but relaxing.
Although Sophie and Darren have never been romantically involved, they are undeniably attracted to one another. Darren is the only one who knows that Sophie has disturbing dreams that enable her to witness crimes in her mind's eye. She has even experienced "the feelings of pleasure in the mind of a killer." Although her gift has proven to be a valuable crime-fighting tool, Sophie's visions disturb her greatly, and for her own peace of mind she tries to repress them. However, when Darren and Sophie, along with other members of the Tucson police department, struggle to solve a homicide case with multiple victims, Darren urges Sophie to use her psychic abilities to help catch the elusive perpetrators.
"The Murderers' Club" is a haunting novel about the evil people who walk among us, hiding behind a façade of normalcy. The club's leader is a diabolical person who has devised a brilliant scheme that he hopes will enable him and his fellow members to torture and slaughter eight individuals with impunity. The author includes transcripts of the chat room sessions in which the killers revel in what they have done and are about to do; these virtual conversations are chilling and terrifying. As the bodies begin to pile up, the police are frustrated by the lack of useful forensic evidence. Sophie contributes her expertise as a profiler and a psychic to help find the members of the murderers' club before they strike again.
This is a disquieting thriller with detailed information about police procedure, as well as insight into the perverted minds of male and female serial killers. We also learn about the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division, whose skilled agents are able to perform amazing feats of computer forensic analysis. "The Murderers' Club" is not a book for the faint-of-heart, since it deals with the most depraved aspects of the human psyche. Although the writing is workmanlike, it is far from elegant, and the author's decision to purposely leave some loose ends dangling may irritate some readers. Still, fans of gritty, graphic, and suspenseful serial-killer stories with a strong psychological component will not want to miss this one.
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