March 13, 2017
A surfeit of gratuitous violence mars Carter’s sequel to 2015’s An Evil Mind. Det. Robert Hunter and his partner, Carlos Garcia, who make up the LAPD’s ultraviolent crimes unit, investigate the murder of college student Nicole Wilson, who was abducted from the house where she was babysitting in Laurel Canyon. Wilson was tortured for more than five days before her body was left in a field near L.A. International Airport, a note written in blood saying “I Am Death” stuck down her throat. Soon more victims are tortured, their horrible deaths discussed in lurid detail by the detectives. A parallel story, in which an 11-year-old boy is kidnapped and beaten for years, isn’t much easier to take. References to behavioral psychology and how sociopathy develops add little to the story. A somewhat clever twist at the end can’t salvage the shallow characterizations and banal dialogue. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary Agency.