Girl 4

This arresting thriller debut pits Det. Insp. January David against a sadistic serial killer, Eames, who methodically seduces and butchers three women in increasingly showy displays of gore and perversion. Carver builds suspense by switching point of view among Eames, David, David’s professionally successful yet personally unfulfilled wife, and the first three victims, each of whom comes from a different London suburb. As the death toll rises, David runs into one dead end after another, with Eames seemingly always two steps ahead. In a chilling scene, David gets a personal shock when he comes across the mangled, bleeding body of the fourth victim, who’s hanging above a theater stage with her blood dripping into a coffin below. Fortunately, she’s still alive. Fans of British crime fiction will enjoy the many cultural references and clever witticisms sprinkled throughout the twisty plot. (June)