Deviant Ways [Paperback]

Awesome! If you never read another book in your life read this book. People who love crime novels will be estatic that this new writer has come on the scene. You'll be hooked from the very first page and you'll not be able to put it down. If you borrow this from some one to read you'll soon be buying your own copy as I am now. So beg, steal or borrow but read the book!!! How this persons first novel can be this good is incredible. How he will follow on from this remains to be seen.

I love this author but found this particular book a bit drawn out and had to make myself finish it.

Seldom does a new author come along with a debut novel that's filled with such believable characters, such vivid storytelling, and such breathtaking intensity, that it knocks the reader right out of their socks. Chris Mooney's debut novel, DEVIANT WAYS, does that and more. This is the story of the Sandman, a killer who knows your every thought, your every move, and there's nowhere for you to hide from him. As a teenager, he was part of a government experimental program, headed by the FBI, a program in which many of its participants were methodically tortured with new drugs being tested and even electro-shock. The Sandman is an adult now, and he wants revenge! His intentions are to kill the doctors and psychiatrists who did this to him and to bring the FBI tumbling down. The killing spree begins in Marblehead, a rich, seashore community in Massachusetts where many of his former torturers live. The Sandman doesn't just want to kill them. No, that would be too merciful. He wants to force them to watch as he massacres their entire families. Then, when the police show up, he'll take them out, too, along with the entire neighborhood. He wants to quickly draw the attention of the FBI and the national media. That's when the fun really begins! Only one man might be able to stop this diabolical killer: Jack Casey, a former FBI profiler, whose wife and unborn daughter were murdered by Miles Hamilton (a serial killer that Dr. Hannibal Lecter would be proud to know). Casey is now a detective for the Marblehead Police Department and probably understands the mind of a serial killer better than anyone. You see, Casey is a killer himself. He's killed more than once in the line of duty, and he likes taking down the bad guys. In fact, if our dark hero can get his hands on the illusive Sandman, he might just teach him a thing or two about death. DEVIANT WAYS will grab you in a strangle hold in the first twenty pages and not let you up for air till the final page is read! Each chapter will propel you forward onto the next with the speed of a roller coaster, daring you to try and stop as Mr. Mooney makes you peel back layer after layer of this multi-structured story, pushing you to discover the truth hidden within the core of his central characters. The novel also has a score of secondary characters that are every bit as mysterious and intriguing as the lead ones are. There's Miles Hamilton, the killer who changed Casey's life forever. Then, there's Malcolm Fletcher, also a former FBI profiler who once tried to stop the inhuman experiments that created the Sandman. The FBI sent assassins to shut him up, but they weren't good enough. Now, he's come out of hiding to help Casey drive a stake through the Sandman's heart and hopefully to get retribution against his former employers. The pacing of DEVIANT WAYS is relentless, and it has so many twists and turns that the reader will never be able to guess the ending. At the heart of the novel, however, are the themes of lost and redemption. Both Casey and Fletcher have done things in the past that they're not proud of, and the time has come to balance the scales. I can't say enough good things about this remarkable novel, and I find it rather awe-inspiring that the author could come from out of nowhere with a debut novel of this quality and magnitude. I don't know how he's going to be able to surpass it. Buy DEVIANT WAYS, read it, and then I dare to sleep for the next two nights. You can't hide from the Sandman!