Review: "An Awesome Psychological Crime Thriller"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2014
This is the fourth exciting novel by talented author Douglas Wickard.  He certainly knows how to make your spine tingle.  He stands with the most popular authors of this genre as he writes another gripping suspense.  Sacred rituals await a teenaged girl as the villain scopes her out at the mall watching her dance around her boyfriend.  That evening George Madden drops off his wife, Edna, at the weekly prayer meeting.  As usual, he has his own weekly meeting at the prostitute club, "Silk Stockings."  After he gets his satisfaction, it's hard for him to see while driving on the dark country road at night.  However, as he glances toward a stand of trees, he notices a person dressed in all white running and stumbling through the trees.  He stops, grabs a flashlight, and works his way through the brambles to find a young girl, barely breathing, laying on the ground.  He hoists her over his shoulder to his car and takes her to the hospital. He feels he's likely to be in deep do-do when he has to explain this to his wife Edna. Doctor Sydia Garrison who specializes in surgery at Medical University of South Carolina is sickened by the barbaric assault on this young teenager.  A local news reporter, Janice Porter, gets a tip from a fellow who works at the hospital, so she quickly attempts to be the lead reporter and goes to the hospital.  There she sees the infamous Detective Dan Hammer who has a strong dislike for reporters, which only hampers her a bit to get a report to her boss. Very soon, as the police search the area where George found the mutilated girl, another young girl's body is found.  This leads to FBI Agent Harry Wright into the fast moving investigation of the serial killer tagged, "The Mutilator."  This is very compelling story, with the characters well defined, in fast reading style of writing by the author.  One can't help read this story non-stop to the very end to see when and if the trauma ends. Highly recommend this suspenseful thriller.