The Traveler - Softcover

Katzenbach, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802122639 ISBN 13: 9780802122636

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 2013

Synopsis

Daring and admirable it’s rare to find a suspense novel with the scope of well-crafted fiction The Traveler is compulsive reading.” Chicago Tribune

This suspenseful classic from John Katzenbach, now back in print, reaffirmed his status as one of the best new thriller writers on the scene. Miami detective Mercedes Barren, recovering from a traumatic shooting, has transferred to the relative quiet of the forensics department to get her life back on track. Yet this peace is put on hold when she gets a wrenching phone call: her niece has been brutally murdered. Soon she uncovers the shocking truth: the killer a professional photographer is engaging in copycat” murders across the country, while forcing a young student to document every horrific crime. The woman he calls her Boswell” is his stenographer of cruelty. And if she drops her pen, she’ll end up being his next subject.”

As her already fragile life begins to fall to pieces, Mercedes makes it her mission to track down this cold-blooded killer even if it means enlisting the help of his brother, a psychiatrist specializing in sex offenders. But can they catch him before his camera flashes next and snuffs out another life? Unbearably suspenseful, with believable characters and dialogue second-to-none, The Traveler is pure John Katzenbach.

About this title

Review

As a jaded detective at the Miami Police Department, Mercedes Barren isn't phased by much. That is, until a late-night phone call awakens her from one nightmare and catapults her into another: her niece has been murdered. Within days, Detective Barren has a surly Islamic fundamentalist in custody cutting a plea bargain--for a series of murders. As much as she would like to believe he murdered her niece, instinct tells her otherwise. Enter Douglas Jeffers, a disgruntled photojournalist who's seen one too many killers, courtrooms, and shredded cadavers. His mission? To commit a series of "copy cat" murders with a twist: he's forcing a young English major to document his journey. Barren catches on, Jeffers's brother (a psychiatrist who specializes in sexual offenders, of course) gets involved, and the motley cast races to a hypertension-inducing finish. Not recommended for those with delicate sensibilities, The Traveler casually throws out descriptions of mutilated organs and vicious assaults with the bored ease of a maître d'. Although it has a tendency to veer into melodrama, the caffeinated cadence and memorable one-liners make for a respectable beach read: "Killers were the Kleenex of the drug industry; they were used a few times and then discarded unceremoniously." --Rebekah Warren

From the Inside Flap

an, a car, and a camera on a sentimental journey through the past. He kills, he photographs, she writes about it -- or she dies, too. Detective Mercedes Barren has a reason to give chase: her niece was a victim. So does psychiatrist Martin Jeffers, a specialist in sex offenders and a more than passing acquaintance of the killer.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0802122639
• ISBN 13: 9780802122636
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 432