On, Off: A Novel - Softcover

McCullough, Colleen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416517227 ISBN 13: 9781416517221

Publisher: Pocket Books, 2007

Synopsis

Colleen McCullough, who crafts "fiction at its best" (Time), triumphs with a searing murder mystery packed with heartpounding twists inside the world of science.

All the victims were pretty girls.

When the remains of a young woman are found at a Connecticut neurological institute, Lieutenant Carmine Delmonico is called to investigate. It is only the first of a serial killer's grisly crimes, however, and Delmonico is plunged into his most perplexing and terrifying case.

All the victims looked alike.

A frightening pattern emerges as the violence escalates, and Delmonico senses the killer is among the institute's staff of scientists and doctors. Infiltrating their ranks, he gets closer to manager Desdemona Dupre, who can help him uncover the secrets, politics, and backstabbing ambitions harbored there.

All is not what it seems.

But this audacious killer's game has only just begun -- a game poised to unravel everything Delmonico believes, and pull the detective who's seen it all into a shocking face-off with a staggering revelation at its core.

About this title

About the Author:

Colleen McCullough was born in Australia. A neuropathologist, she established the department of neurophysiology at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney before working as a researcher and teacher at Yale Medical School for ten years. Her writing career began with the publication of Tim, followed by The Thorn Birds, a record-breaking international bestseller. She lives on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific with her husband, Ric Robinson.

From Booklist:

Here's something new from the author of The Thorn Birds and numerous high-concept historical fiction titles: a straight-up detective thriller. It's 1965, and a dismembered body is found in a storage refrigerator at a neurological research center in Connecticut. Lieutenant Carmine Delmonico soon realizes he has got something new on his hands: a psychopath who kills for sport. In modern terms, a serial killer. McCullough, who admits to being a longtime reader of crime novels, is clearly well versed in the traditions of the genre: the novel features a working-class detective in an unfamiliar environment (sort of like Columbo) and a large cast of potential suspects (think Agatha Christie). The characters are vividly drawn, and the story itself is quite intriguing. A demon for research, McCullough packs the novel with enough information about the operation of the research center that we almost feel like we could run one. There are flaws: the prose is a bit overwritten, with phrases so out of place that they pull the reader up short ("stygian coldness," for example, on the very first page). Also, the overabundance of exclamation marks is sure to grate on many readers. But, despite these stylistic shortcomings, the novel should prove entertaining enough both to McCullough's many fans and to thriller readers who have never met a serial killer they didn't want to read more about. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1416517227
• ISBN 13: 9781416517221
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 432