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.

Review: UNSUB by Meg Gardiner

Author: Meg Gardiner 
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: June 2017

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

 UNSUB is the first book in the UNSUB series featuring Detective Caitlin Hendrix.  Caitlin grew up in the shadow of her father, the detective who was not able to catch the serial killer, The Prophet.  He seemingly went crazy because of it. Now, the Prophet is back and Caitlin is on the hunt.

This was such a great thriller.  I haven't read one that kept me on the edge of my seat in a long time.  I listened to the audiobook.  There was one scene (the race to the college stadium) where I was convinced something bad was going to happen to one of the characters that I liked and I actually stopped walking (I was on my way to the parking garage after work) until the end of the scene.  It was that riveting.  I was kept guessing throughout the book.  The pacing was perfect.

 I loved the characters.  Caitlin was such an interesting character.  I wanted to keep reading about her.  I loved the chemistry she had with her boyfriend. It was easy and not angsty.  It also didn't overpower the book. The other characters were interesting as well.  After the ending in this book, I need the next one now.  I have it on hold at the library so, stay tuned.  I definitely recommend this one.  It's making my top 10 read of the year for sure!