Deviant Way

In his first novel, Montanari gives the serial-killer theme an original spin but fails to follow it through. A team of one man (``Pharoah'') and one woman (``Saila'') is working the yuppie bars of Cleveland, ensnaring female victims with whom they have kinky sex before mutilating them. Disheveled cop Jack Paris uncovers two clues that tie their three victims together: all had a rose tattoo removed with a razor, as well as gaudy facial makeup applied after they were murdered. The suspense mounts as Jack's investigations draw suspicion down on the novel's lively supporting cast: his drop-dead beautiful partner Cynthia Taggart; spunky barmaid Rita Weisinger; sex-crazed thrill-seekers Andrea and Matt Heller; public prosecutor Diana Bennett; and Nick Raposo, the vengeful father of a dead cop. But as Jack zeroes in on the true identities of the killers, Pharoah and Saila abruptly shift gears and turn to menacing him and his family. The narrative may feature plenty of explicit sex and violence, but the motives for the killers' murder rituals remain inadequately explained, as do the psychodynamics of their relationship, making this more an exercise in sensationalism than in sound storytelling. (July)