The Mind of a Murderer, by Michael Wood.
And it’s sequel, The Devil’s Code.
I am enormously proud
of myself. I have finally started a book
series off at # 1 – usually I discover after several pages that I have done my
usual trick of starting after several books have already been written, then
having to rely on the author being kind and filling in key information – well,
this series is so obliging it even has the first chapter of the next story to
refresh peoples’ minds and whet their appetite for more blood and gore - and this
series is awash with it, for its main protagonist is a forensic psychologist who
started off life as Olivia Button, a normal little child, content in the bosom
of her loving family, until she came home from school one day to find her
younger sister dead in her dying mother’s arms, blood pouring everywhere and
urged by her fatally stabbed mum to ‘RUN!’
Which she does – fleeing her father, of all people, who
had decided that after killing several complete strangers, it was time to
dispatch his family. And he is nearly
successful with Olivia, wounding her terribly before the police overpower him. Fortunately she survives her injuries and is
lovingly cared for by her grandparents
who provide as much love and normalcy as they can as she grows up, but you
don’t have to be Einstein to know that she will always want to explore, study
and understand why some people kill (especially serial killers), and what they
actually enjoy about it. From her own
experience she knows that familial love means nothing; the thrill of ending someone’s life is
paramount so, on the positive side and after a name change, Olivia has made a
substantial career out of travelling the world and studying the deeds and minds
of serial killers; she is such an
authority that her advice is sought by Police authorities everywhere,
especially in London where a killer has struck again: how she eventually unmasks him is very well
plotted and, in the best tradition of all superior crime novels one never knows
who the baddy is until the last possible minute.
Book Two starts in a similar vein; Olivia is required to go to Newcastle-on-Tyne
to offer advice and suggestions to the authorities after a car was stopped on a
stormy night by police; when the car
boot was opened, a body was revealed, cut into twelve pieces. The driver will only say ‘no comment’, even
as he is sentenced to life imprisonment.
A search of his house reveals documents which appear to be in code, but
how to break it?
And underlying all the
mystery and worry that more remains will be found is Olivia’s father, still
contacting her from prison whether she wants to hear from him or not (she
doesn’t). But he has other bodies – and
murders – up his sleeve, and wants to brag about them whether she likes it or not!
Michael Wood has created a flawed, damaged but courageous
protagonist in Olivia; she makes mighty
mistakes but great inroads, too, in outwitting her villains – and her
nightmares. FOUR
STARS EACH.
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