The
Fourth Monkey – J D Barker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Hear No Evil…get a victim’s ear, delivered in a neatly
wrapped box tied with black string.
See No Evil…get a victim’s eyes, delivered in a neatly
wrapped box tied with black string.
Speak No Evil… get a victim’s tongue, delivered in a
neatly wrapped box tied with black string.
Get The Fourth
Monkey, by J D Barker and get the thriller of the year, thus far, delivered
in the form of a book that divides the storyline into two neatly gripping
sections.
The Four Monkey Killer (4MK) has been plying his evil
trade for five years terrorizing Chicago and we get dropped right into the
middle of a bubbling story with the arrival of the first neatly wrapped box,
tied in black string and containing his latest victim’s ear. You know the old
saw about the monkeys who hear, see, and speak no evil, but this troop comes
with an extra member.
Author J D Barker spins out a twisted tale of an
ultra-smart serial killer who is not only hell bent on yanking the chains of
those trying to catch him, but along the way he has made the case and helped
the cops to roll up some folks who were doing evil that they didn’t even know
about.
Is 4MK dead…the victim of an apparent suicide or is
this just another twist; a curve ball to keep the cops guessing? Barker drops a
malicious clue in the form of the killer diary which details the killer’s
twisted childhood and the making of a future serial killer.
While Barker alternates between the current chase and
the killers diary, I defy you to try not to bounce ahead to see where the next
twist in either tail leads.
This is a great concept and the execution is spot
on! Barker sets the hook early and the race is on with relentless pacing, great
hairpin turns and enough twists to keep you guessing until the final pages.
Hands down my favorite fiction of the year and I am ready for what’s next from
the devious mind of J D Barker.
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