Product Description

Frank Quinn, the relentless detective who made his debut in John Lutz's acclaimed thriller "Darker Than Night", faces his toughest - and most personal - case yet...A madman is stalking women in the city. By the time his victims are found, they've been dismembered with careful precision, their limbs stacked into a gruesome pyramid and completely cleansed of every last drop of blood.Accustomed to working on the most grisly homicides, detective Frank Quinn's nerves don't rattle easily. But when the last names of the killer's victims spell out "Q-u-i-n-n," the veteran cop feels a chill run down his spine. Then a fresh victim is linked to the one woman Quinn can't stop desiring. Hunting down killers is what Quinn does best. But this time, Quinn is up against a psychopath that will test him as never before...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #261236 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Shamus and Edgar award–winner Lutz gives us further proof of his enormous talent for crafting great police fiction in his latest, a deceivingly standard story that pulls retired NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn back into action to help stop a woman-killing madman in New York City. The Butcher, who leaves the dismembered bodies of his victims stacked in bathtubs, somehow avoids leaving any forensic evidence, and it doesn't take much persuading for Quinn's old friend Deputy Chief Harley Renz to get the old detective on the case. Teamed up with an old flame, officer Pearl Kasner, Quinn gets in emotionally complicated waters early on—but things get personal when they realize the first letter of the last names of the five women killed so far spell out Q-u-i-n-n. And that's before Quinn's headstrong daughter unexpectedly shows up in the city. As the bodies pile up, Lutz handles the familiar situation—aging detective locked in battle of wits with brilliant killer—with characteristic finesse, keeping suspense taut, details gritty and twists surprising. Though his New York might as well be Anycity, U.S.A., Lutz has a thorough command of plot and character, making this another enthralling page turner. (Nov.)
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From Booklist
The victims are dismembered, their body parts ritualistically stacked in a bathtub, with all blood rinsed down the drain. Semiretired NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn is lured back to the job out of a sense of service and a chance to reassemble his former team, which not so coincidentally includes his former lover, Pearl Kasner. The case becomes very personal when the first initials of the victims' last names are Q-U-I, and one of the victims was killed in Pearl's old apartment. Nothing is what it seems, and even after a terrific final act, the investigators really don't understand what they've witnessed. But thanks to Edgar and Shamus winner Lutz's brilliant narrative and shifting perspective, readers will know what the detectives don't and will be thoroughly horrified. Moviegoers sometimes hide their eyes during the really scary parts. Readers would do that while turning these pages, too, if not for the obvious drawback. A very scary and suspenseful read. Lukowsky, Wes

Customer Reviews

exhilarating tense thriller
The city is frantic, especially the women as the Butcher dismembers females limb by limb and stacks each of them into eerie pyramids in their bathtubs. He is extremely precise with his human Lego's, but never leaves behind a forensic trace of any sort.

NYPD Deputy Chief Harley Renz knows he needs his best serial killer specialist to lead the inquiry; however the department's top gun is retired. Still Harley asks former NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn to return to the field to stop The Butcher from killing anymore women. Police Officer Pearl Kasner, Frank's former girlfriend, is assigned to work with him. However, Frank is immediately stunned when he realizes the first letter of the surname of the five victims spell the proper noun Quinn.

John Lutz provides an exhilarating tense thriller using the old standby High Noon premise of a retired police detective in a cat and mouse struggle against a diabolical clever grandmaster killer. The cast is fully developed especially the hero, but it is the serial killer who methodically steals the story line. Readers will enjoy this chess game between two intelligent opponents with the falling pawns being women of the city while Frank's endangered queen might be his partner or perhaps his visiting daughter.

Harriet Klausner

great read
someone that reads alot came to work one day and said they have the last two pages to read and can not wait to get to it. she said this was one of the best books she has read lately , so or course i couldnt wait to read it . i enjoyed the story line , i liked the characters and i didnt find myself skipping over alot of usless information , like so many other books. it was similar to the dexter story with the body dismemberment thing , so i kind of was more able to visualize it sinced im obsessed with dexter. i just wish the end was different , i do not want to give the story away to who ever reads this so i wont say much . i just wish the reason for the killings was clear to everyone else at the end .

Serial Killer Duels It Out With Veteran Police Detective And His Team
He was called The Butcher. He drowned his victims and then dismembered them. He was brilliant and had grown up dirt poor near the swamps in Florida. Subsequently he moved to New York His mother had taken in older boarders. They disappeared. Their body parts tossed into the swamp as alligator feed. His mother was his teacher. He ran away at age nine or ten. But the psychological damage had been done. Unknown to him his murdering mother conceived another child. A brother. Frank Quinn a retired detective was brought back to bring down the serial killer. Quinn reassembled his former team, both retired, consisting of his former live in girl friend Pearl Kasner and Larry "Feds" Fedderman. The story evolves as the murders continue. The mother and brother read about the killings and come to New York. Detective Quinn decides to use the mother as bait to reel in the killer. An interesting twist to the story is that the brother consumates a brief affair with Kasner and the killer begins to target Quinn's daughter Lauri who had come to New York to find herself. Other reviewers have suggested the story to be bordering on the unreal. Actually, I found it be an excellent page turner that did seem realistic albeit though there were a few parts that pushed the limit.