Details
Synopsis
In a small town in Southern Illinois, a young mother is murdered and butchered, and a coded inscription is printed in blood on the back of her head. More than a decade earlier, a Chicago clergyman had been slashed and dismembered and left with the exact same combination of letters and numbers printed on his head. An angelic-looking alter boy named Aaron Stampler was convicted of the crime and, saved from the electric chair by attorney Martin Vail, has been locked away for 10 years in a high security institution for the criminally insane. When another altar boy is killed and found with a similar inscription in blood on the back of his head, Vail, now Chicago's Prosecuting Attorney, knows his career--and possibly his life--depends on solving those horrific crimes.
| Size | | Height: | 7.0 in | | Width: | 4.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 7.2 oz |
Industry Reviews
Diehl, the author of previous hits Chameleon (1982) and Sharky's Machine (1978), has the makings of another best seller here. Defense attorney-turned-district attorney Martin Vail comes to regret having saved a murderer, Aaron Stampler, from the death penalty; Stampler wasn't suffering from multiple personality disorder but was merely a vicious killer who has many more scores to settle. When Stampler proves smart enough to convince an egotistical psychiatrist that he is now sane and can return to society, Vail has to out-think him to save not only his own life but the lives of everyone who contributed to the killer's ten years in a mental institution. The action is gripping, and the characters are well drawn. Buy for suspense collections and for Diehl's established fans. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/95.] Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Merullo
In this sequel to Diehl's Primal Fear, an incarcerated serial killer's enemies begin meeting grisly deaths. (June)
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