The Executioner by Chris Carter
Dec. 11th, 2010 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Imagine your worst fear – and then meet your worst nightmare ...
Inside a Los Angeles church, on the altar steps, lies the blood-soaked, decapitated body of a priest. Carefully positioned, legs stretched out, arms crossed over the chest, the most horrifying thing of all is that the priest’s head has been replaced by that of a dog. Later, the forensic team discover that, on the victim’s chest, the figure ‘3’ has been scrawled in blood.
At first, Detective Robert Hunter believes that this is a ritualistic killing. But as more bodies surface, he is forced to reassess. All the victims died in the way they feared the most. Their worst nightmares have literally come true. But how could the killer have known? And what links these apparently random victims?
Hunter finds himself on the trail of an elusive and sadistic killer, someone who apparently has the power to read his victims’ minds. Someone who can sense what scares his victims the most. Someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his twisted aim.
It’s been several months since the events in THE CRUCIFIX KILLER but Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia find themselves dealing with another serial killer when they’re called to an LA church where a priest has been decapitated and his head replaced with that of a dog. Worse, they quickly discover that the priest is not the killer’s first victim.
As more bodies turn up, they discover that this killer has a way of finding out his victims’ worst fears and then turning them into reality and their investigation brings them into contact with Mollie, a teenage girl who knows details of the murders that can’t be explained other than as a psychic connection with the killer. With the detectives honing in on what links the victims, Hunter and Garcia face increasing media pressure and a killer who’s determined that nothing will stand in his way.
I didn’t enjoy THE CRUCIFIX KILLER on the grounds that it too clichéd and badly paced. Unfortunately, this sequel is equally clichéd (and at times, downright ludicrous) but it is at least fast paced, with Carter using ultra short chapters ending on cliff hangers to drag the reader through the book.
Given the events of THE CRUCIFIX KILLER (which saw Garcia actually crucified) it’s surprising that so little mention is made of it beyond Garcia having scarred hands (and yet full use of them). Hunter has resumed his one night stands and remains deeply irresistible to women. Garcia remains happily married and devoted to his job.
All of the other characters in the book are stereotypes – the story hungry reporter who will do anything for a story; the troubled young psychic who was abused as a child by her religiously insane father; the serial killer intent on revenge etc. They’re all flimsy and they’re all dull.
While the hook of killing people using their worst fears is intriguing, the way it’s portrayed defies belief and the psychic element does nothing to reign it back.
Ultimately, while it is better than THE CRUCIFIX KILLER, I’m afraid that this still didn’t work for me at all and I will not be reading Carter’s next book in this series.
The Verdict:
I wasn’t a fan of THE CRUCIFIX KILLER and while this is a better paced read, the clichés and stereotypical characters just made it too difficult for me to engage with it and I won’t be continuing with this series.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
Inside a Los Angeles church, on the altar steps, lies the blood-soaked, decapitated body of a priest. Carefully positioned, legs stretched out, arms crossed over the chest, the most horrifying thing of all is that the priest’s head has been replaced by that of a dog. Later, the forensic team discover that, on the victim’s chest, the figure ‘3’ has been scrawled in blood.
At first, Detective Robert Hunter believes that this is a ritualistic killing. But as more bodies surface, he is forced to reassess. All the victims died in the way they feared the most. Their worst nightmares have literally come true. But how could the killer have known? And what links these apparently random victims?
Hunter finds himself on the trail of an elusive and sadistic killer, someone who apparently has the power to read his victims’ minds. Someone who can sense what scares his victims the most. Someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his twisted aim.
It’s been several months since the events in THE CRUCIFIX KILLER but Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia find themselves dealing with another serial killer when they’re called to an LA church where a priest has been decapitated and his head replaced with that of a dog. Worse, they quickly discover that the priest is not the killer’s first victim.
As more bodies turn up, they discover that this killer has a way of finding out his victims’ worst fears and then turning them into reality and their investigation brings them into contact with Mollie, a teenage girl who knows details of the murders that can’t be explained other than as a psychic connection with the killer. With the detectives honing in on what links the victims, Hunter and Garcia face increasing media pressure and a killer who’s determined that nothing will stand in his way.
I didn’t enjoy THE CRUCIFIX KILLER on the grounds that it too clichéd and badly paced. Unfortunately, this sequel is equally clichéd (and at times, downright ludicrous) but it is at least fast paced, with Carter using ultra short chapters ending on cliff hangers to drag the reader through the book.
Given the events of THE CRUCIFIX KILLER (which saw Garcia actually crucified) it’s surprising that so little mention is made of it beyond Garcia having scarred hands (and yet full use of them). Hunter has resumed his one night stands and remains deeply irresistible to women. Garcia remains happily married and devoted to his job.
All of the other characters in the book are stereotypes – the story hungry reporter who will do anything for a story; the troubled young psychic who was abused as a child by her religiously insane father; the serial killer intent on revenge etc. They’re all flimsy and they’re all dull.
While the hook of killing people using their worst fears is intriguing, the way it’s portrayed defies belief and the psychic element does nothing to reign it back.
Ultimately, while it is better than THE CRUCIFIX KILLER, I’m afraid that this still didn’t work for me at all and I will not be reading Carter’s next book in this series.
The Verdict:
I wasn’t a fan of THE CRUCIFIX KILLER and while this is a better paced read, the clichés and stereotypical characters just made it too difficult for me to engage with it and I won’t be continuing with this series.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
