Scavenger

Savage enters the realm of the serial killer with this blood-soaked tale, whose creepy killer goes by the name the Family Man. He's acquired this epithet because he wipes out entire families--pets included--then poses the bodies in scenes of domestic contentment, such as sitting around the fireplace or in front of the Christmas tree. Now, more than a decade after the last of these unsolved murders, mystery writer Mark Stevenson has just published a bestselling novel based on the horrific crimes. Taped to the door of his Greenwich Village apartment, Stevenson discovers a computer diskette that contains a message from a person calling himself Scavenger, who hints that he knows the truth behind the Family Man case. Scavenger says he will tell all, as long as Stevenson is willing to play a game of scavenger hunt. The writer agrees, following a series of clues that lead him to each of the crime scenes--New Orleans, Los Angeles, rural Illinois and two in New York. Along the way, he runs across more dead bodies and escapes the deadly clutches of someone who's following his every move. Why would Stevenson agree to play such a macabre and dangerous game? Unbeknownst to almost everyone, he's the lone survivor of one of the families that was slaughtered, and he wants revenge. He finally gets the chance in the inevitable showdown in an abandoned farmhouse outside New York City. Savage (Valentine; Inheritance) keeps his story briskly paced, yet several scenes strain believability and much of the dialogue and descriptions are overly dramatic. The homestretch of the novel is laden with guessable revelations and a disappointingly thin explanation for what's behind the Family Man's monstrous behavior. (Jan.)