"...you can trace all human behavior to love or a lack thereof."
FBI Agent Kelly Roth of the Behavior Science Unit is sent to the town where she grew up to investigate a serial murderer known as the "Park Killer" (all the murders happened in some kind of state or local park). Three women have been killed, one pregnant and also a 10-year-old boy. The killer simply puts a single shot in each victim's head and apparently drives off leaving shell casings and the dead behind where they fell. As she navigates between police departments and the usual turf protectiveness, Kelly finds that the is definitely a case where her training in psychopathology will be put to use as the killer is using some sort of "no free will" manifesto to justify his behavior. As she interviews the devastated husband survivors, it is discovered that the killer is contacting the men and manipulating their minds. In a complicated investigation involving the FBI and local police, Kelly is confounded by contradictory evidence and frustrating interviews. Can they discover the killer's identity and stop him before he takes more victims? NO SPOILERS.
This was an interesting police procedural and crime thriller that focused primarily on the psychological aspects of a person devoid of some of the vital parts of humanity. The notion that pain is all in the mind and that people are reactive rather than liberated by thoughts and that control of anything is an illusion. The novel, however, was filled with characters who were only partially more than one-dimensional and I didn't feel as if Kelly Roth was fully developed. The book focused less on people than on theory to some degree. It was a quick read and I'll probably look for other books by this author in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for the e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and not part of a series (yet?)
Genre- police procedural/crime thriller
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