April 13, 2020
Schaffer’s adequate third Santero and Rein thriller (after 2019’s Unsettled Grave) finds the pair on the trail of a sadist. Fifteen years earlier, Jacob Rein, then a Viera County, Pa., police detective, helped stop high schooler Tucker Pennington from torching a classmate, Brenda Drake, he doused with gasoline. Now, before Pennington is released from a secure mental facility, Brenda apparently commits suicide, and Det. Carrie Santero discovers a threatening letter near the body signed by “The Master,” Pennington’s criminal alias. When Pennington’s psychiatrist is later found murdered, Santero decides that she needs now ex-detective Rein’s help. At the crime scene, Rein and Santero note inconsistencies with Pennington’s previous m.o., and agree that a copycat could be at work. Since there’s just one significant alternative to Pennington as the villain, the reveal of the “real” killer won’t surprise many readers. The detectives are clever enough but not particularly distinctive. A fair amount of action, gore, and weird ritual should satisfy most fans of serial killer fiction. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.