Kevin O'Brien, Killing Spree

Killing Spree

Kevin O'Brien

Pinnacle, January 2007, $6.99, 443 pp.

ISBN 0786017759

Gillian McBride is a Seattle-based published author with five thriller books to her credit, and even though she is pleased to be in print, she is not a happy person. Her husband Barry walked out on her and their son to avoid being killed by people he borrowed money from to support his gambling habit; these loan sharks periodically come around looking in her mail and garbage for a clue to the whereabouts of Barry. On top of that, her son is going through an identity crisis because he is attracted to males, yet he doesn't want to be labelled as gay.

A series of murders starts in New York City where a woman was stabbed to death in a taxi by a man wearing a Zorro costume. A man picks up a hitchhiker, drugs him, and murders him, and surgically removes his lover jaw and heart in Billings, Montana. In Chicago, a woman is killed in a department store dressing room. All of these scenarios are found in Gillian's novels, and the killer finds various ways of informing her of each killings. As the killer gets closer and closer to Gillian's loved ones, she puts her life on the line to stop him from killing again.

Thriller readers are going to thoroughly enjoy KILLING SPREE, a tale with many sub-plots that tie seamlessly into the main storyline. There is so much action that the audience never gets a chance the catch their breath. The heroine, who is besieged on all sides, is a strong willed person, who never even whines or whimpers when life gets difficult; instead she rises to the occasion to cope with her latest crisis. Kevin O' Brien provides a strong thriller.