Tess Gerritsen recently said that women like books about serial killers with women as victims. So, why aren't Shane Gericke's books more popular than they are? Women should be buying tons of his books, and Torn Apart should be at the top of the list.The third book about Naperville Illinois detective Emily Thompson is nerve-wracking. If you can turn the pages fast enough, you can try to keep up with a plot that involves narcotics drivers, kidnapped children, sexual slavery, a Mexican drug cartel, a missing police officer all converging on two points, the Wisconsin woods during deer hunting season, and Naperville. And, I didn't mention that Emily, who has been the target of two serial killers, is receiving "gifts" and notes from a third.
I can't even say this book started slowly. It's a violent book from page one. If you don't want to read books that tell part of the story from the villains point of view, you'll stop immediately when you find a teenager screaming in the back of a van with four brutal men. Gericke hits the reader with scene after scene of violence before giving the police a little down town, allowing Emily time with her best friend, Annie Bates, SWAT team captain, and her lover, Marty, before he leaves for a hunting trip. But, even as Marty leaves, the reader knows those hunters will somehow run into the men in the van. Drug money is leaving its trail up and down the interstate, tearing apart families, communities, and the police force.
Torn Apart will leave you gasping for breath. It's action-packed and suspenseful, and doesn't give the reader or Emily Thompson a break until the very end. And, if you can guess the serial killer's identity, you're quicker than I am. Once again, Shane Gericke has written a stunning thriller, with enough action for any reader.
Shane Gericke's website is http://www.shanegericke.com/.
Torn Apart by Shane Gericke. Kensington, ©2010. ISBN 9780786020393 (paperback), 320p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The author sent me a copy of the book, in hopes I would review it.
