Viper by Michael Morley
Viper by Michael Morley
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Friday, 15, May 2009 08:37
Published by Penguin, out now, paperback, 574 pp.
In a nutshell...
Intriguing, sadistic, disturbing, freaky thriller
What's it all about?
Jack King is the expert profiler who gets approached Luciano Creed, a psychologist obsessed with the killing of five women. Sylvia Tomms is Carabinieri's newest detective and she calls on Jack for help.
When bones of one of the women murdered are discovered burnt on Mount Vesuvius, the game of cat and mouse begins. Is Luciano the murderer? Are the Camorra mob scene involved?
Who's it by?
Michael Morley is senior executive director for Endemol TV and produced documentaries such as Murder in Mind. Viper is his second novel.
As an example...
"Sylvia stared at the photographs and felt as drained as a car battery. She handled the scattered images on her desk and absorbed the reality of what she now accepted was probably another murdered woman. Where these broken and burned bones really all that were left of some lost soul like Luisa Banotti, Patricia Calvi, Donna Rizzi or Gloria Pirandello? The thought angered her. It dropped like a match into a pool of gasoline and sparked her into action."
So is it any good?
Not one for the faint-hearted. Michael Morley's latest dives in no holds barred and you better bet it takes no prisoners. I was surprised by this book, expecting a typical 'good cop, bad cop' storyline. Jack King is a likeable character with his easy charm and quick wit and his lead laces the, otherwise complicated, story together.
This book is graphic in detail so really should be read on an empty stomach. It moves through Naples and the mob scene drawing in the reader page after page. This is a good book but not an easy read. You have to keep your wits about you, if you want to reach the breathless finale. This book has been carefully crafted to keep the reader guessing till the very end and it certainly does the job.
7/10
Sanoobar Patel