Review: The Sixth Wicked Child by J.D. Barker

Author: J.D. Barker

Publisher: Hampton Creek Press

Publication Date: August 2019

In the riveting conclusion of the 4MK trilogy, Barker takes the thriller to an entirely new level.

Hear No Evil
For Detective Sam Porter, the words “Father, forgive me” conjure memories long forgotten; a past intentionally buried. For Anson Bishop, these three words connect a childhood to the present as he unleashes a truth concealed for decades.

See No Evil
Found written on cardboard near each body, these words link multiple victims to a single killer—discovered within minutes of each other in both Chicago and South Carolina—clearly connected yet separated by impossible miles.Speak No Evil >Chicago Metro and the FBI find themselves caught in chaos—a hospital on lockdown, a rogue officer, and corruption at the highest levels. When Anson Bishop, the prime suspect in the notorious 4MK serial murders turns himself in, he reveals a story completely unexpected, one that not only upends the current investigation, but one that will change the lives of all involved.

Do No Evil
With unrelenting tension and pulse-pounding suspense, the past unravels at breakneck speed as the truth behind the Four Monkey Killer’s motive is finally revealed in this masterfully crafted finale. 

The Sixth Wicked Child is the third and final book in the 4MK trilogy.  I read the first 2 a couple of years ago and I'm so sorry that I put off reading this one.  You can read my reviews of the first two, The Fourth Monkey and The Fifth to Die, here and here.   Let me start by saying that you should not read this as a stand alone.  This book spoils everything from the first two books.  You really need to read this series in order.

As I said before I was sorry that I put off finishing out the trilogy.  This book was just as exciting as the first two books.  I had no problem immersing myself back into the story and getting reacquainted with the key players. This author does a fantastic job of throwing twist after twist and have it all make sense.  It's so hard to talk about this last book without spoiling anything.  I had no idea how it was going to wrap up.  All of my assumptions throughout were wrong.  I'll just say that it ended perfectly. I highly recommend this trilogy!

Review: The Fifth to Die by J.D. Barker

Author: JD Barker
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of publication: July 2018

Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.

Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.

The Fifth to Die is the second book in the 4MK Thriller series.  I loved the first book, The Fourth Monkey, and was eagerly waiting to get my hands on this one.  Sam Porter is back and he and his team are on the hunt for a new killer who has been kidnapping girls and killing them.  Porter is still trying to hunt down the 4MK killer.  Once again, this author has knocked it out of the park.  It is always refreshing to read a good thriller that keeps me guessing.

The one thing I loved about this book as well as the first.  There are a lot of twists and I called none of them.  Every plot point was given out to the reader in exactly the right time frame so that there was not a lot of foreshadowing to give away anything too soon.  The story is told through multiple perspectives and sometimes that can be confusing.  I didn't really mind it in this instance.  It was almost necessary to get the whole story out.  I'm not going to talk plot points here because I don't want to give anything away. The book ends on a huge cliff hanger.  I need the next book as soon as possible because I need answers!   I highly recommend this one as well as the first.  

The Fourth Monkey By J.D. Barker

Author: J.D. Barker
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of publication:  June 2017

For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive. 

As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own.

The Fourth Monkey was another recent random pick from my library's audio bookshelf. Sometimes those turn out to be the most enjoyable. I had never heard of it but was intrigued.  The story involves a serial killer who has been terrorizing Chicago for five years.  He is known as the Four Monkey Killer because he send ears, eyes and the tongue to the family members before he kills his victim.  He follows the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" rhyme.  Sam Porter has been hunting him down. So when a man is killed by a car and it looks like he is the serial killer, Porter finds himself in a race to find his latest kidnapped victim before it is too late.

I really enjoyed the mystery.  The author did a fantastic job of doling out clues at the right moment.  I did not call the twists and enjoyed solving the puzzle right along with the detectives. The story alternates between the investigation and the supposed diary of the killer.  The diary installations are truly disturbing...but are they true?  The ending leaves an opening for a sequel.  Sam Porter was a great character.  In fact, the entire team of detectives in the story were great.  They are characters I look forward to reading more about. I definitely will be picking up the next one to read more about Porter and his team.