Psychologist Alex Delaware is once again asked to help the police. The murder of a woman is made more gruesome by how meticulous she is carved up and arranged after death. The next murder is obviously by the same person but trying to find the connection between the victims is difficult since the victims are complete opposites and don’t appear to have anything in common. But as more bodies are discovered, Alex, Milo and his police crew are able to put together the rather unique “who and what” that created this monster. Now they have to find him.

I’ve never read this author’s books before, but when I had a chance to grab an ARC for such a well known author, I jumped on it. The blurb I read began with “Gripping psychological thriller…” I’ll agree with the psychological aspect. The gripping, thrilling? Not so much.

The murders themselves are horrendous enough to give those working the case nightmares. That part is believable. The first victim is such a nasty individual that while horrified by what was done to her it’s difficult to feel bad that she was a target. The “who, what and why” aspect is nicely twisted and unique to what I’ve read in the past. So yes, the psychological slant is well done.

But the story moves at a very slow pace for too much of the book, although probably in keeping with real life. Uncovering clues does brighten things up, but then we’re back to the slow pace which negates the gripping and thriller aspect that I was expecting. I even found the capture to feel anti-climatic, most likely because I just wanted to finish the book that was easily set aside a number of times over a few days.

Perhaps I would have felt differently about the story if I’d read prior books in the series and had a prior history of Alex and Milo to go on. By the end of the book I still don't know much about Alex.

Reviewed as an ARC from LibraryThing.