Special Agent Pender is called out of retirement to help track down a serial killer on caribbean island. The victims die as a result of blood loss when their hand is amputated with a machete: a hand contains twenty-seven bones.

This was quite readable, but not fantastic. We find out very early on that the "serial killer" is actually a group of three people, led by a woman who's delusional and has convinced the others of the truth of her delusion. As a doctor points out some time later in the book, "out of 395 psychiatric disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, Delusional Disorder is the only one that's contagious".

The narrative alternates between the point of view of the killers, and that of the police and forensic team. It does get quite exciting towards the end, and the structure of the story means we are spared a lengthy "what happened was..." section, but saying it was far-fetched would be an understatement.

I finished the book last night - didn't take me long to get through it but already the details of the plot are starting to seem a bit vague...

This is one of a series of books about special agent Pender. Might be worth reading another one, but this one was not more than adequate.

Completed : 18-Jul-2004