Richard Montanari Skin Gods

Skin Gods

Richard Montanari

Ballantine, Mar 2006, $24.95, 416 pp.

ISBN: 0345470974

In Philadelphia, a vicious sly serial killer enjoys reenacting famous death scenes from movies. He films his work, and then splices its content in with originals like Psycho. After adding his real gruesome take to a video, he returns the revised film to the store so someone can rent his "director's" cut. People who have seen Hitchcock's Psycho for instance are in for quite a shocking "director's" cut.

Philadelphia homicide detectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne investigate the homicides, though the latter works part-time as he still recovers from a gunshot wound. Since the killer is talented with his filming and cutting, in between Kevin chomping on pain pills, the two sleuths look into the local film industry for clues, to include a major producer and pornography movie makers. The two partners also have baggage from their personal lives, as Kevin struggles to stay connected with his teenage daughter following his divorce, and Jessica worries about her preschooler after tossing out her womanizing spouse.

The serial killer makes this a strong thriller, as readers can envision his splicing his work into classic film scenes. This makes for an electrifying investigation, mostly run by Jessica. Though the two sleuths seems to be overloaded with personal baggage that slows down the case, fans of police procedurals or gimmicky serial killer tales will take pleasure in reading SKIN GODS, and obtaining the two detectives' first case together (THE ROSARY GIRLS).