Disconnection
Erin Samiloglu
Medallion, Aug 2005, $6.99
ISBN: 1932815244

Residents of the Big Easy are not living up to the city's nickname as fear has gripped New Orleans. A serial killer has been mutilating young females before dumping the corpse into the nearby Mississippi River. Because the victims are tattooed with weird diagrams, New Orleans Homicide Detective Lewis Kline concludes that the killer is performing some form of a ritual slaying. As his hemorrhoid flared up, he knows that in a city like New Orleans there is virtually no clue as the occult shines big time here.

Following a nightmare, Sela Warren goes to the Black Kitchen on Bourbon Street with her friend Mandy who deserted her, but left her cell phone behind when it rings. Thinking it is Mandy, Sela feels compelled to answer the ringing phone, but quickly regrets that she did. The caller says she is Chloe Applegate, the serial killer's last victim. Sela is shocked with the impossibility of apparently either hearing from the dead or more likely a cruel trick, but will soon realize how deep the insanity can go when evil comes calling for her.

DISCONNECTIONS is a strong thriller that moves on two levels, that of a police procedural struggling to stop a serial killer from murdering again and that of a paranormal connection between Sela and the malevolence coming for her. Readers will be hooked from the moment Sela picks up the phone and keep reading to learn whether the supernatural in terms of the devil or a devilish killer are behind the homicides and the assault on the heroine's senses. Erin Samiloglu writes a powerful who-done-it that is part wonder suspense and part supernatural thriller.

Harriet Klausner