Jay Bonansinga Shattered

Shattered

Jay Bonansinga

Pinnacle, Dec 2007, $6.99

ISBN 9780786018772

In Northern Virginia FBI profiler Ulysses Grove receives his latest major field assignment: stop the Mississippi Ripper, a serial killer, who murders in pairs before the culprit slices up his victims. His grotesque portrait of death is to have two people facing one another. Grove methodically follows the clues and believes he is unlocking his opponent's psychopathic mindset, yet the rampaging killer continues his vicious homicides seemingly ignoring the Fed trailing in the murderer's row.

However Grove and his FBI compatriots will underestimate their elusive vicious foe. Using his paranormal skill, he targets Ulysses' wife, Maura and their infant son Aaron as a pair to disembowel. Meanwhile Grove keeps on digging applying his mother's supernatural visions to guide him.

The third Grove FBI police procedural (see FROZEN and TWISTED) is an exciting thriller that cleverly balances the varying elements from the paranormal to profiling to old fashion sleuthing foot work. The key cast members seem genuine even when using special psychic like power as Grove does because he is a loving family man and the terrifying Mississippi Ripper feels like a Headlines News killer. SHATTERED is a taut cat and mouse tale with the hero's family as the cheese.

Harriet Klausner