The second Mike Barton novel

 by Ian Gosling

Step inside the mind of a serial killer... feel his anger; share his pain
Sit alone in the darkness with his victims …feel their fear; share their isolation
Grieve with their families… feel their anguish; share their frustration

Warning: You will find no comfort here

THE FIRST TIME ADAM KILLED there was justification. The wounds she inflicted could never heal. They festered and exuded pus; a foul poison simmering and seething inside his head like a witches brew. After everything she’d put him through; she deserved to die. If his crime had been discovered he could have got off with manslaughter.

ADAM KILLED AGAIN and again, and as the anger died he became cold and calculating. He was young and made mistakes, but clever enough to stop before they caught him.

NOW HIS ANGER HAS RETURNED and the witches brew is about to boil over. He has learnt from his mistakes; he is more controlled than before and this time is preparations have been meticulous. They have all been chosen. The first is a stranger; for practice. The last will be a gift for an old friend. The others are for Him. They will spend their final days in a cellar beneath a terraced house in a quiet street. Adam will be their accuser, judge, jury and executioner. Their crime - LYING TO GOD

CAMBRIDGE: city of learning and science. A misty October morning at the end of a sublime Indian Summer. A Cambridge Don takes his regular Sunday morning walk by the river. The sun breaks through the cloud, dewdrops sparkle, rainbows dance over the rippling water. His dog, out of sight some way ahead, barks; then she howls. 

Detective Superintendent Mike Barton is called to the scene. The mutilated body of a woman is hanging beneath a bridge. He is reminded of the Cambridge Ripper murders; more than a decade earlier. He caught him and knows he’s still in prison. 

Barton’s fears that they have a copy-cat are confirmed when he receives an email from the killer promising more victims.

The promise is kept and as the killer taunts him with more emails, Barton repeats past mistakes. When it gets personal, his frustration boils over into anger.
 

click here to read Chapter 1