UNSUB

Starred review from April 17, 2017
Near the start of this outstanding series launch from Edgar-winner Gardiner (Phantom Instinct), Caitlin Hendrix, a detective with San Francisco’s Narcotics Task Force, visits a crime scene in an Alameda County cornfield—a brutal double murder. The killer pounded nails into the chests of the two victims, forming the symbol for mercury, the hallmark of the notorious serial killer known as the Prophet who struck the Bay Area during the 1990s, then disappeared. The Prophet is no stranger to Caitlin: her father, Mack Hendrix, was the lead detective on the original case, which left him an emotional wreck and tore his family apart. Soon reassigned to homicide, Caitlin is determined to bring the unsub—or unknown subject—down this time and finish what her father started. As the body count rises, the stakes become even more personal, as the Prophet targets those closest to Caitlin. Taut pacing and sympathetic characters play against a terrifying villain, who will crawl beneath your skin and trouble your sleep. Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel. Five-city author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents.

July 31, 2017
Narrator Huber provides plenty of chills as she maneuvers her way through the twists and turns this dark thriller. In the 1990s, a serial killer known as the Prophet terrorized the citizens of San Francisco. Twenty years later, new deaths begin to occur, each bearing the distinctive markings of the Prophet. Detective Caitlin Hendrix, whose father was the lead detective on the original case, is now in charge. Huber does an excellent job in bringing Gardiner’s characters to life. Her Caitlin is stalwart, determined and single-minded to a fault, while Caitlin’s father’s sounds constantly distraught by his failure to solve the case the first time around. She voices the Prophet in a mechanical, detached voice that makes the maliciousness of his threats all the more haunting. Huber increases the suspense by slowing down the pacing as the final confrontation between Caitlin and the Prophet grows ever nearer. A Dutton hardcover.