Head Cases

[Vicki Willis]

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Head Cases

January 19
All are welcome. Use spoilers.

Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying—and commercial—series debut.
Gardner Camden is a walking analytical brain with an affinity for riddles, puzzles, and codes. It makes him the perfect fit for the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit of the FBI, a team of five brilliant but misfit agents tasked with solving cold cases. Gardner's smart, but he's all business--except for his seven-year-old daughter and occasional visits to his elderly mother, he prioritizes his work and justice over everything else, no matter the cost. With rumors of PAR about to be disbanded, the team can’t afford to make any mistakes.

A serial killer from one of Gardner’s solved cases, presumed to be dead for over a decade, is found murdered, and then soon after, another body with a similar story. The mastermind murderer has left clues and riddles for Gardner and his team--a mathematician, a sniper and weapons expert, a computer analytics specialist, and their leader, a career agent--as they track him across the country. With the threat of PAR dissolving, Gardner must work to solve the riddles before it’s too late.

McMahon’s suspenseful and irresistible thriller confronts the scales of justices in the face of a twisted vengeance plot as this engaging cast of characters works together to stop a misguided vigilante.

[Kristie]

Excited for this one!

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

yes!! have this one on audio so much less likely to fall behind and be late on this buddy read 🥳

[Kristie]

Great! Welcome, Shruti!

[Kristie]

Just checking in. Excited to start this one! I'm still seeing good reviews. I just finished my current book and don't want to start something else, so if I end up with extra time tomorrow I might start this one a day early.

[Vicki Willis]

I am starting this one a day early too.
I ended up with another read starting on the 20th, but this one publishes in a week, so I need to get moving.
I tend to read slower.

[Kristie]

I also tend to read slower and I'm feeling the crunch with pub dates, etc.

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

planning to start this one either this evening or tomorrow :)

[Vicki Willis]

I started this one today.
I am at 20%
The writing style (view spoiler)[(I think it was the writing style) took me a minute to get used to. Or I wasn't paying attention. I felt like I had to keep rereading the same part to figure out what was going on. But once I got into it, it is reading fine. (hide spoiler)]

The characters (view spoiler)[I am loving all the characters. The PAR group is almost like a group of misfits of the FBI and we are only starting to get a taste of each person's back story.
I like the MC a lot. His social uncomfortability makes him so relatable. I like the parts where his mother gives him advice to survive the world (backstory) and when he visited her and we find out she is in some kind of memory care.
His partner is great! She is a fun character.
The boss is solid how he seems to be training him to be the next boss. And how he went under the house without complaint.
The "new Guy" and Shooter.
Am worried the the serial killer of serial killers might be a law enforcement. I hope it isn't anyone on the team. (hide spoiler)]

The mystery (view spoiler)[ omg! so disgusting to have the body parts LABELED in the fridge!!
The fact that they though they had the guy and then he was killed 7 years later. And the whole thing about the teeth!
Very engaging! (hide spoiler)]

Not a spoiler - it is in the description
But is PAR even a real thing? I am going to have to look that up. Sounds so interesting. I like data, so those snippets are super cool to me in the book.

[Kristie]

I ended at 16% (through chapter 7)

Re your 20% spoilers:

The writing style - (view spoiler)[ I also had a difficult time with it in the beginning. I think it's the way the MC thinks and speaks. It takes some getting used to. (hide spoiler)]

The characters - (view spoiler)[ I also think PAR is like the group of misfits but they are just too intelligent or talented to not keep somewhere. They don't necessarily want to have to interact with them, but they want to access their skills.

It does seem like the boss may be training Gardner to takeover. Strange that Gardner doesn't seem to 100% trust him saying he and his partner are a circle of two. I really hope no one on the team is involved.

I love how hard Gardner tries to act in a more socially acceptable way. His mom seems like an amazing woman who really helped him to become more well-rounded.

(hide spoiler)] I'm enjoying getting to know the characters and liking the interactions within the group.

The mystery - (view spoiler)[ Yes! That was so disgusting! I was thinking though that I wouldn't take a finger as sufficient evidence that it was really the guy after using the teeth the first time and finding out it was faked. I do think it was him, but if I was Gardner I'd want DNA from all the bags just to cover myself. I'll be really curious to find out how (or if) the cases are connected. A serial killer killing serial killers is an interesting concept. (hide spoiler)]

I don't know if PAR is based on a real thing, but how interesting. I love the idea of this book so far and I'm curious to see where it goes.

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

End of chapter 12 / 29%

Ok so Criminal Minds except it's a cold case?

Agreed about (view spoiler)[ the writing style. I generally do enjoy cold case mysteries. I think I had to adjust to how his thoughts flow and that this is a detective story not a thriller really.

I've never heard of PAR either but what a cool department if it does exist. I see Goodreads has this posted as the first in a series, which makes sense to me with how the characters are being built and interacting. I like them so far.

The organs in the fridge is so gross. It's giving Jeffrey Dahmer, and I hope that's not where we're actually heading. Feels more like revenge or someone punishing serial killers maybe. (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie]

Shruti morethanmylupus wrote: "End of chapter 12 / 29%

Ok so Criminal Minds except it's a cold case?..."

I'm still only at the end of ch 7 - What I find interesting is that PAR is supposed to be solving cold cases, but this is not a cold case. This is a very active case they are on.

[Vicki Willis]

45%
(view spoiler)[ That was tense him flying home to check on his daughter. Things are getting too personal. I thought it was interesting that the safe place is an Emu farm. I am wondering if that is going to come into play later on.
He had Cassie checking into the team (and others) who could be the leak. I am glad most of the team is cleared (are they really though) and am wondering about Richie. He might be too obvious of a choice. But what is he hiding and why is his file locked?
The killer is going a good job keeping them off kilter with writing the message to Gardner and making the call as "Frank Roberts".
(hide spoiler)]
I will read some more tonight. I am really liking this one.

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

Kristie wrote: "Shruti morethanmylupus wrote: "End of chapter 12 / 29%

Ok so Criminal Minds except it's a cold case?..."

I'm still only at the end of ch 7 - What I find interesting is that PAR is supposed to be ..."

Right! So I'm confused about what their directive is. They mentioned the profiling team - which I believe is the what the Criminal Minds Behavioral Analysis Unit is based on? So they're definitely separate.

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

45%

I thought it was sweet how he (view spoiler)[ went home to check on his daughter. I hope the farm turns out to be safe - the guy seems to have a lot of insider information.

I'm concerned the leak will be someone they cleared already. His boss?

Locked file on Richie was definitely suspect.

I'm enjoying how the murderer is interacting with them. I hope the puzzles are going to ramp up more.

(hide spoiler)]

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

80%

Hmm there were an awful lot of (view spoiler)[ missed clues it seems. I kind of like that even though we're getting the usual hero detective saves the day with a major epiphany thing, it's a little muddier since he also missed those same things.

Still more to learn about the mole - the cop doesn't seem like the whole picture there somehow.

(hide spoiler)]

[Vicki Willis]

60%
Ramping up!
(view spoiler)[ it all lead to the director Banning. Hmmmm in and out of retirement. Could there be more?

A dropped book causes a clue! And trust for Richie! Go Richie!

Could Kagan become a new member of PAR for future books?

All this flying around the country has me exhausted! (hide spoiler)]

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

And I'm done!

Overall, I liked this one. I think (view spoiler)[ the Banning thing started getting pretty obvious partway through, but I wasn't 100% sure.

This one felt like a lot of setup for the series, which I'm not mad about. I would read more books in this series. The mystery was good, but the ending felt a bit wrapped up in a bow.

I'm still not clear on whether the PAR is supposed to be cold cases or live cases though haha.

(hide spoiler)]

[Kristie]

Vicki Willis wrote: "45%..."

I'm through chapter 24 (51%) - re: the flight (view spoiler)[ Do you think the killer did that intentionally to get Gardner out of the way? It kept Gardner busy going to get his daughter while he committed the next murder. Plus, with him trying to keep it hidden and not trusting his team he was even out of phone contact.

I'd still be concerned about my daughter. This guy has been a step ahead of them so far. He is smart and playing games. I'd be worried that he would still find her. (hide spoiler)]

Another thought re: suspects at this point - (view spoiler)[ I am still hoping it's not one of the team, but the book seems to be leading us in that direction. However, has any member of the team been away from the others long enough to commit the murders? Haven't they all been accounted for? Even when they aren't physically together, they can track phones and they have things they are working on where they would have to produce information. None of them have had the opportunity to travel alone to a different location, kill a person, and get back in time. If it is someone on the team, they must have an accomplice.

That was wild how they found out the killer was using the director's personal login! I know they say they can keep the sensitive information safe while leaving that account open, but can they really? If the killer was smart enough to hack into the account, they could be able to hack other files through it too.

Side note - I will likely use he for the killer, but at this point we don['t know if the leak is a woman or not. It's just easier to use he since it was a man's voice that called Gardner. (hide spoiler)]

[Kristie]

I ended at 93% through chapter 45. I hate when real life gets in the way and I ave to put a book aside at this point when it's so engaging!


Vicki Willis wrote: "60%..."
(view spoiler)[ I was wondering the same thing abut Kagan. He really opened up the case for them. I hope so. He seemed to really love the job. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki Willis]

I am at the end of chap 44 -90%
And i have to stop for the night.

(view spoiler)[Banning?!
And the son of a war buddy who he banned...
And the opportunistic guy looking to take the top job
A lot of moving parts here

His poor mom!!!!
(hide spoiler)]

[Kristie]

Vicki Willis wrote: "I am at the end of chap 44 -90%
And i have to stop for the night. ..."

(view spoiler)[ I keep thinking that it was Gardner's mom who told him basically to think about the guy and consider where he was coming from and not to use is intelligence to hurt others. His mom basically told him to be kind this guy and the guy tried to (may have) killed her for it. Poor mom! 😭 (hide spoiler)]

I can't wait to finish this today! I'm curious how it will all play out.

[Kristie]

I finished! I'll write my review tomorrow, but I thought it was excellent. I was a little worried when I first started reading it because the writing was strange due to the MC's idiosyncrasies, but once it settled in I didn't want to put it down. I can't wait for the next in the series already.

[Shruti morethanmylupus]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... my review!

[Kristie]

Forgot to post my review too - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...