A serial sniper is on the loose, claiming victim after random victim. TV reporter Sam Stevens sees no reason why his wife can’t be one of them.

Anyone who followed the D.C. sniper case will recognize the scenario: a dedicated, yet clueless police department, and the prerequisite swirling media frenzy. Stone takes this one step further, focusing on one reporter with a career-making story practically landing in his lap. It is when our intrepid reporter hatches a plan to have the sniper pop a cap in his slutty wife that jacks the story into high gear.

Any smart reader will figure out Sam’s plan early on, but Jonathan Stone has more than one magic trick up his sleeve. As the pace picks up, what you see is not what you get. Being well versed in serial killer novels, even I was knocked off kilter with the first big shift in the plot. There are a lot of these confounding twists and turns in Sam’s carefully navigated path out of his marriage -- the reader may think Sam is righteous in his plan to off his wife, only to find him increasingly despicable as the novel barrels towards the end.

Personally, I like a despicable protagonist. It breathes life into a genre a little too preoccupied with the predictable. I like Jonathan Stone’s tight dialogue, even if the internal meanderings get a little heavy. But that’s easily overlooked as Sam speeds merrily along on his personal road to Hell.

Buckle up for the ride.

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Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (June 13, 2006)
ISBN: 031235410X
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