Bloodman

Former antiques dealer Pobi boldly announces his arrival as a cunning novelist with this grim and gory debut thriller. FBI contractor Jake Cole, burdened with an uncanny ability to mentally recreate 3D crime scenes, returns home to Montauk, NY to care for his estranged father, a renowned painter suffering from Alzheimer's. But Jake is soon called into action by local authorities to help capture a ruthless serial killer who scalps and skins his victims. Tormented by his morbid profession, a dysfunctional family history, and the blood-thirsty psychopath, Jake must immerse himself in a past he thought he left behind decades ago. As the victims pile up%E2%80%94and a Category 5 hurricane bears down on the coastal town%E2%80%94he becomes convinced that the secret behind the thousands of mysterious canvases stacked along the walls of his father's art studio will lead him to the killer. Pobi revels in grisly scenes, and though the chilling finale might feel lacking, the author's cinematic vision and precise attention to detail, as well as a subtle trail of clues and a tight, macabre plot, trump character clich%C3%A9s and the incomplete denouement. (May)