Saturday, August 9, 2008

14-J.T. Ellison

14
J.T. Ellison
Mira, Sep 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780778325567

In the 1980s in Nashville, the Snow White Killer murdered ten women who looked similar with their dark hair and the red lipstick painted haphazardly all over their lips. The serial killer was never caught, but taunted the police with a note claiming mission accomplished. At the time of the murders, preadolescent Taylor Jackson was fascinated by them; she hoped, if the predator was not caught then, to one day have the opportunity to catch the psychopath when she became an adult police detective.

Two decades later, the case remains unsolved, but Taylor knows that was the impetus that turned her to law enforcement. The homicide lieutenant is stunned when the Snow White type murders begin again. She and her fiancé FBI profiler John Baldwin investigate planning to bring the killer, whether he is the original or a copycat, to justice.

The second Taylor Jackson police procedural (see ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS) is a gritty urban serial killing thriller with strong plausible twists. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action as Taylor got her tweener wish as she goes after the deadly effective and efficient psychopath. 14 is a tense and intense thriller throughout.

Harriet Klausner