Nine college coed bodies found around L.A. over the past six months -- but only their bodies. Around their necks a cheery red ribbon and a tiny silver bell. Just below where their heads used to be. Nicknamed "The Slaybell Killer" by the L.A. Times, the killer is a madman and a ghost. And no one has ever seen his face.
At the center of it all is Detective Frank Morresi, a grizzled veteran of the force and widower who randomly caught the case of his life. Only he wishes he hadn't. Mostly because every victim reminds Frank of his only daughter, Kerry.
Determined to end the lunatic's reign of terror, Frank gets aggressive. But instead of getting him off the streets, Frank thrusts himself onto the killer's center stage -- along with his daughter. Now it's personal. The killer will do anything to kill Kerry, and until he does he's going to kill every lookalike he can find.
Kerry's a beautiful girl, but looking like her can be deadly.
It wasn't bad. Not bad at all. At first, it seemed a bit clichéd. A cop's on the trail of a serial killer, and the profile of the victims seems to match the cop's daughter. When it becomes apparent that his daughter herself may be in danger, he goes off the rails and will stop at nothing to catch the killer.
The story got better the further I read, and there's a really good twist at the end.
But it isn't really anything special; there are a few things left unexplained, and the writing struck me as a little amateurish. Too many similes, for one - I know it's one of the first things they teach you, but when you find arbitrary comparisons (okay, some of them were good, but a lot of them didn't even make sense), it gets a bit much. Like the author's trying too hard, or something.
An enjoyable story, but nothing special, like I said.