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As a longtime fan
of Robert W. Walker's Instinct series, I was eager to get my hands on his latest
Jessica Coran story. It was worth the wait, because Walker's novel made my skin want to
slide from my bones.
The killer in Absolute Instinct exhibits his
evil nature at the ripe age of seven when his mother catches him sucking the marrow of
her dead cat's spine. That scene actually made my blood boil, and I said a curse out
loud.
Not to become political in a book review, but I immediately thought
of research that shows most serial killers start by killing or torturing animals. I
nearly stopped reading in order to write my Congressman a letter pleading for stricter
animal
cruelty laws. However, I was hooked into finishing this book in hopes that
Walker's character, Jessica Coran, would track down this demon child (as the adult he
becomes, of course).
In a twist of cruel reality, the child became a man,
and that man is obsessed with the human spine. He is tracking his victims and actually
removing the spine while the victim is alive. Of course, he doesn't want to be
wasteful, and it seems that he is turning the spines into grotesque
artwork.
If you have ever wondered if serial killers are born or created
from the environment, Walker offers the idea that they are born. The killer is driven
and haunted by not knowing who his father is. His mother tormented him with tales of his
father being a monster, and he is accused of being just like him until the day she
dies.
On her death bed, she gives her son a box that contains all the
information that explains who the spine sucker is the spawn of. The killer does not open
it for most of the story, but when he does, long time readers and newcomers alike will be
in for a big surprise.
At the same time that the reader is following the
killer through his tribulations, we are with Jessica Coran as she works to figure these
bizarre murders. One problem is that they are happening across the country, and one
state has already convicted
someone for the crime. Coran finds herself in a race to
not only catch a killer, but to save an innocent man.
It is a fast-paced,
well-written, and extremely creepy mystery suspense novel...the kind of book that I
absolutely love.
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