A.J. Diehl, The Mind Box

The Mind Box

A.J. Diehl

Midnight Ink, October 2005, $15.95

ISBN: 0738708208

Though the email from a source called "Mike's Gifts" reminded him of Poe, and to a large degree his own gruesome gory movies, Oscar winning Hollywood producer Eddie Ealing thought he was safe because of the deal he negotiated. Two days later, Eddie is found dead in his mansion. Police Detective J.D. Nestor informs his partner Detective Lane Daily that this homicide is even gorier than the Tate/LaBianca case, as the torture and mutilation was obviously personal. The crime scene and deceased look like part of a theatrical production.

Lane is informed she is teamed up with Taryn Pierce on leading the investigation, and quickly learns many people had a motive to kill the affluent filmmaker, as Eddie stomped on anyone to make it, including members of the victim's influential family who run a memory research business. As the detectives dig for clues, in which each one adds more questions than answers, Lane begins receiving Email messages from Mike's Gifts discussing in detail her darkest secret that she thought only she knew.

This is a terrific serial killer tale that hooks the audience from the first email, and never slows down during a macabre fascinating cat and mouse skirmish until the final confrontation. Lane and Taryn are complex characters whose professional relationship is kindly put as rocky, while the killer comes across mostly indirectly through the viewpoints of the cops or the emails as a brilliant lunatic. Fans will enjoy accompanying the sleuths as they follow up on clues in which the perpetrator seems always to be ahead of them.