Starks must solve a riddle, he is told. He must find out whose life he ruined within two weeks. If he does not, he must kill himself. If he does not kill himself, then those nearest and dearest to him will be killed. The letter is signed, Rumpelstiltskin. At first Starks is dismissive--but he does call relatives to see that they are all right. Not all of them are. In fact Starks is convinced that the letter writer is deadly serious when he discovers how the birthday of his 14-year-old great-niece was ruined. He must now engage in the game or be responsible for the lives of others.
While he works frantically to try and unlock the past and find whose life he could possibly have ruined, Rumpelstiltskin is also busy. Within hours of receiving that first shattering letter, one of Dr. Starks's patients throws himself under a subway train, though Starks knows the patient was not suicidal.
When the police tell him that a couple and a homeless woman saw the man jump, Starks tries to find them. He finds only the homeless woman, who tells him that she was given money by the couple to tell what she witnessed. Starks is certain that Rumpelstiltskin must be one of the couple, but he's wrong. It's even more sinister than that, and when he meets the accomplices, he realizes that his adversary has been planning his revenge for years.
Soon, Starks's life is spiraling downward. There is nothing hidden from Rumpelstiltskin. His credit cards, his bank accounts, his patients, his homes in Manhattan and in Massachusetts, his reputation--nothing and no one is safe as Starks races against time as his world shrinks and his options run out. The clock is ticking as he hunts a ruthless psychopath who always seems to be one step ahead of him. As Starks tries to figure out what to do besides react to his life spinning out of control, he uses his training, his dwindling resources, and every weapon available to him to combat this relentless and deadly foe. --Otto Penzler
]]>That's what happens to Malcolm Anderson of The Miami Journal. One day in 1975, fate hands him Page One material: a beautiful teenager found with the back of her head removed by a .45 bullet. Katzenbach takes us through the reporter's paces: eliciting quotes from the victim's family and friends (the girls at school wonder who'll replace the deceased on the cheerleading squad); getting great "art" for the photographer; negotiating the story's space, timing, and emphases with the city editor.
But this is no ordinary killing. The only thing worse than a dead teen is a dead teen with a note in her pocket reading, "Number One." Worse yet, Malcolm gets a call at his desk from the "Numbers Killer," who taunts him with an elliptical account of his tormented childhood and violent Vietnam experiences. As Malcolm desperately tries to deduce the killer's motives and prevent the next murder, he wrestles with the terrible question of his own complicity. The bad guy here is just OK, but the reporter is a very good character, and the novel well merits its Edgar Award nomination. --Tim Appelo
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