The Ninth Dominion

Acts of violence, madness and sadism, detailed with loving care by Land ( The Valhalla Testament ), are the real stars of this tasteless thriller. Jared Kimberlain, lone survivor of the original Caretakers (``we take care of the country''), now works solo to track down ``the most loathsome of criminals.'' The FBI asks him to help find ``Tiny Tim,'' who recently wiped out two small towns--one person at a time. In return, they'll let Kimberlain look around ``the Locks,'' a sanitarium for the criminally insane from which serial killer Andrew Harrison Leeds recently escaped with 83 other inmates. Since Kimberlain put Leeds away, it's obviously in his best interest to find the murderer before Leeds finds him. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, a member of the new generation of Caretakers known only as Hedda narrowly escapes being killed by her own people; a terse message from a less fortunate comrade puts her on a trail of death and secrecy that winds back toward the U.S. Eventually the three mysteries intertwine and evil is halted, but not before a certain amount of sport with guns, explosives and garbage crushers. ( Feb. )