Product Description Past headlines said it all: Serial Killer Plucks Hearts from Victims! The most despicable and prolific serial killer of New Orleans has escaped! Top Detectives Callow and Smith urgently try to beat the clock as the homicides begin again, with the vengence of two perpetrators. Is there also a copy-cat? Why the modus operandi of plucking wives' hearts? Where is the operation done, and the bodies displayed in other, public locations? The detectives are the emotionally constant, methodical heroes needed for the job again. During the arduous course of the case, Callow reexamines his religious faith that had vanished, with enriching results. Review Early in the book there is a revealing piece of description about a shooting attack on a bus of prisoners, The foggy, cotton candy aura was saturated with bright red, turning darker as it oxidized and splattered, turning the movie into the genre of horror. Revealing because the serial killer detectives Callow and Smith need to recapture literally rips the hearts out of his adulterous victims. But also this passage foreshadows a cinematic approach the author uses to great advantage. There is something about serial killers that appeals to the movies. Maybe because they seem an unstoppable force beyond reason that is easily frightening to audiences. In this case Jack Callow s wife was murdered by the escaped convict two years earlier so there is personal involvement which heightens the drama. Also he has a young daughter, who he believes could be hurt as a way for the killer, Ralph Mules (a great name), to get back at him. But there are also some twists that keep readers guessing. For one, we don t know whether or not the dead wife Callow idolizes was adulterous. Second, it seems that the killer is in two places at once. Is there an accomplice possibly one of the people responsible for ambushing the prison bus? The dialogue crackles. New Orleans (the setting) enters mostly through descriptions of food. And the story pulls together toward a tense climax. The author is adept at withholding information (Callow s fate) from us to build suspense. And there are some subtle touches, such as juxtaposing description of the crime lab with that of the actual crime scene. Zenon has done research for there is some detail the average person wouldn t know that adds credibility ( I parked behind the squad car and switched off the portable Rawl s light that sat on my dash... ). I m less enthusiastic about the religious overtones (quotes form Psalms and the Bible, between sections). They seem a bit heavy handed though they do mirror the detective s return to God after his despair when his wife was taken from him, and there is one good interchange between Callow and Mules about rectifying evil. The cover is very creepy. Maybe too creepy. But this is a young author going places (and I don t mean just in the Army). I applaud his energy and skill. Even his description of his home town in the bio is evocative: His place of origin is New Orleans, Louisiana, sometimes the hottest but definitely the loveliest, verdant spot on Earth, where every night the orange sunset touches the water and the crabs leap out, inviting a feast for the city rising in reconstruction. --BookReview.com (John Lehman)