Review: Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner

Author: Meg Gardiner

Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date; January 2018

In Southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another, from her car at a stoplight. A mother is ripped from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI Agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.
Caitlin's unit discovers the first victim's body in the woods, laid out in a bloodstained white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest's darkness. Around the bodies, Polaroid photos are stuck in the earth like headstones, picturing other women with their wrists slashed. The women in the woods are not the killer's first victims, nor are they likely to be his last.

To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind; he is a confident, meticulous killer, capable of charming his victims until their guard is down, snatching them in plain sight. He then plays out a twisted fantasy - turning them into dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy.

Caitlin's profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people's trust. But can they apprehend him before it's too late?

As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims his next victim

Into the Black Nowhere is the second book in the UNSUB series.  This one takes place a few months after the events of the first book.  Caitlin is now with the FBI as part of the Behavioral Unit.  She and her team are called to Texas to track a serial killer who is targeting women.  I found this one was just as good as the first book. For the most par tit worked well as a stand alone.  However, it does spoilt the ending of the first book.  So be forewarned.

I was sucked right into the mystery.  I liked the twists and turns that it took. There was a lot of action that had me in the edge of my seat.  I also enjoyed watching Caitlin grow into her own as an FBI agent rookie in the unit.  She is a likable character.  She has faults and insecurities.  She is tough, yet relatable.  The book ends on kind of a cliffhanger, so I can't wait to read the next one.  I highly recommend this one.