The Serpents Kiss
by Mark Terry
Derek Stillwater is a maverick type agent for the
Department of Homeland Security. His area of expertise is bioterrorism,
and when a sarin gas attack leaves fifty-two people dead at a Detroit
restaurant, Stillwater rushes to the scene.
Matt Gray, the FBI boss in charge of the investigation,
regards Stillwater 's presence as a turf violation and assigns agent
Jill Church to “keep him in the dark.”
Two things become apparent right away. First of
all, Derek Stillwater is far more competent and motivated than the
FBI and secondly, the murderer will be killing again – and soon.
A second mass killing takes place a few hours later
at a college lecture and leaves tantalizing clues, designed to send
the investigators after a false scent. The targets are becoming
progressively larger and the diabolical killer is moving forward,
like a freight train on steroids, building toward his final act,
where he plans to kill over twenty thousand rock concert attendees.
The whole scenario takes place in just twelve horrifying hours.
When FBI agent Jill Church sees what is going on,
she tries to help Stillwater and winds up being suspended by her
boss Matt Gray. Jill recognizes that Gray is more concerned about
playing politics than trying to figure out the deranged murderer's
next move, so instead of quitting the case, she defies her superior
and teams up with agent Stillwater and charges ahead, attempting
to rival the speed of the killer.
Author Mark Terry has done and absolutely masterful
job of matching the overall pace of the story to the sense of urgency
that the characters feel. His short chapters and terse dialog complete
the picture and pull the reader into the pursuit. This story really
moves.
My tastes run toward action jammed stories and this
one certainly qualifies. Over the years, I've read lots of thrillers
written by well known authors, but can't remember reading a more
electrifying book.
Ten years ago, I may have had a credibility problem
with the premise of this novel, but the wave of terrorism currently
sweeping the globe makes the concept all too real.
I'll admit that this is my kind of book, but on
a scale of one to ten, I'd rate this one a twelve.
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