Merciless: A Novel of Suspense

Philadelphia detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano trail another serial killer in Montanari's undistinguished third novel of suspense (after 2006's The Skin Gods). Byrne's chance encounter in a diner with Anton Krotz, a violent thug, ends tragically when a moment of hesitation costs the life of Krotz's innocent female hostage and the woman's grieving husband swears revenge. That threat looms over Byrne as a psychotic murderer begins to amass an alarming body count, mutilating his victims in ways that recall Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tales. Predictably, the killer nearly adds the attractive Balzano to his body count before a cliched last-minute rescue. Montanari deserves credit for hiding the solution in plain sight, an achievement marred by the failure to obscure it with plausible red herrings.