The Serpent's Mark

As a New York police detective, Peter Stein was particularly successful at tracking down serial killers, but after one psychotic threatened his wife, Stein quit for a quieter existence in West Virginia. Now, in Las Vegas, another brutal madman claims he will keep on killing until Stein leaves his flourishing law enforcement consultancy and comes to Vegas. Stein, who has promised his wife that he will never return to his former violent world, rejects the pleas of the frantic priest the murderer uses as messenger. But when the killer, motivated by messianic delusions, kidnaps and begins to multilate a little girl, Stein has no choice but to become involved. The killings are frequent and violent as the murderer stays one step ahead of the police up to the final confrontation, with Stein's wife and young son once again in deadly danger. Duncan ( China Dawn ) keeps things moving at full tilt, and has created a thoroughly chilling, frighteningly believable villain. (Jan.)