River

From meager threads of fact snipped from Seattle's still unresolved Green River serial killings, Thorp (Rainbow Drive; Die Hard) weaves a spellbinding tapestry depicting a charming, intelligent monster and the cop who hunts him down. Seattle vice detective Philippe Boudreau gets no respect and a lot of grief from self-promoting Captain Ron Beale when, in 1982, Boudreau identifies a Green River floater by an intimate tattoo on the young woman's thigh. Police special bullets in the corpse's vagina prompt Boudreau's memory of Garrett Richard Lockman, a woman-hating con man who liked to pretend that he was an undercover cop. Before many pages pass, Lockman has killed dozens more and, along with Boudreau, readers are running into the sort of brick walls and booby traps that face a hard-working street cop under superiors with personal agendas and political clout. Cop and killer become obsessed with each other and dance through the plot as Beale blunders and an arrogant FBI team remains intent on solving the case without help from a lowly vice cop, forcing Boudreau to go it alone until unexpected help comes from his ex-wife's psychotherapist. As the 1980s roll by, young bodies keep floating, Lockman keeps conning and Beale for a time puts Boudreau on the suspect list. Finally, Lockman is picked up on an old warrant, allowing Boudreau, in a surprising twist, to serve up his own brand of justice. Thorp creates a credible scenario rife with life-sized characters and scenes of stunning violence and suspense; his best novel in years, this will nail readers from start to finish. 75,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (July)