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On a cold January day, Detective Vito Ciccotelli investigates a graveyard, laid out by a serial killer, in a snow-covered Philadelphia field. The most terrifying aspect is that not all of the graves are filled. They’re dug and ready for the next victims. But Vito plans to stop the killer before anyone else gets buried there.
Vito enlists the help of archaeologist Sophie Johannsen—because he needs to know exactly how many more bodies lay in the empty field. Though Sophie has spent a good deal of her life digging things up, they’re usually thousands of years old—and she’s not prepared for what she discovers beneath the arctic dirt of a psychotic killer’s cemetery.
Ed Munch carries out his twisted game with cold calculation. He has to create something realistic, and the best way to do that is to have someone die for him. When Sophie gets too close, he plans to make her scream—and to make her his greatest creation yet.
Karen Rose has penned yet another bone-chilling thriller. As usual, she brings moving subplots into the suspense, adding a flavor of authenticity to the characters’ lives by showing what goes on outside their jobs and inside their homes. It’s never intrusive but, instead, it adds depth to an already terrific story.
Though I found Vito’s singing opera in a nursing home to be a bit much, his character is still tenacious and tough, engaging to the max—and you know he’ll capture the killer and keep the heroine safe at any cost. Sophie’s character grows throughout the novel, and she goes from somewhat childish behavior to a strong woman, able to face the most horrifying of experiences with smarts and dignity. And the villain is one of the most evil and warped characters I’ve ever read. His method of killing will keep you wrapped tightly in apprehension, dreading what’s coming next.
Karen Rose gives you a taste of fear you won’t soon be able to shake. When you’re all alone in the dead of night, with just a small lamp burning beside your bed, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself that Die for Me is a fictional tale, and the villain isn’t lurking outside your window.
