Compulsion - Jennifer Chase, Author

Compulsion - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

Detective Rivas wastes no more time and clicks on the first email.  It quickly loads several photos and a video showing a man clearly digging in a deserted rural area.  The detective's blood turns cold and he feels sweat trickle down his neck.  He watches the man in the cheap neon Hawaiian shirt talking to himself explaining how sometimes dying is the right thing to do and how brave the little boy was to die for him... clicking on the other emails, Detective Rivas obtains detailed metro-scan maps fro the Yuma county assessor's office and clear photographs of the suspect with a complete background of criminal and personal history.  An entire detailed investigation unfolds in less than five minutes in front of him from a phantom super sleuth.  He is just one of many who has been blessed with the help of this serial killer hunter.

Detective Rick Lopez of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office has his own serial killer to deal with.  Women are turning up dead after being tortured.  He is convinced that this is not the work of just one serial killer but a team of two, which is extremely rare.  Apparently the killer will remove an arm from his victim and replace it with the arm of the victim before her.  This in itself is a puzzle but Lopez knows that the killing will go on until the killer is found and destroyed.

Emily Stone is a loner.  Her parents were murdered when she was only twelve and she sent from her home in Indiana to live with her uncle in California.  Over the years she has seen her share of crime.  Stone crazy men abducting and molesting children and now her attention is being turned to women being abducted in her own town by a deranged killer.  Something has to be done and soon but apparently the police haven't a clue as to the person's identity.

Someone is sending high-tech emails and evidence to the police departments that lead them to the arrest of serial killers.  Who, no one knows.  Could it be a policemen?  Could it be Emily Stone?  Or is it someone you would least expect?  As I read this story I had my killer nailed about half way through the book.  Well, I was wrong.  The first killer was eventually revealed but not the second.  I was firm in my decision as to who the second was.  Again I was wrong.  See if you can figure this one out before the end of the book.

This is the first in the series and I can't wait to read the next titled Dead Game so I've already bought it and have it in line to read.  If it is anywhere as twisting and full of surprises as Compulsion I will find myself up late reading again.

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