Part of Butch Karp, book 10
First published 1999
Deputy District Attorney Butch Karp understands the motives behind most killings. Revenge drives some murderers. Others kill for money or survival. A few even kill for pleasure. But three new cases defy all logic. An elderly shopkeeper lies dead in his Manhattan store, brutally murdered. An off-duty undercover police officer falls to gunfire. The Hudson River yields a third corpse, five .22 caliber bullets lodged in his skull. Each crime scene bears the same mysterious message. Karp realizes these seemingly random murders form a pattern that threatens to ignite citywide chaos. The investigation draws him deeper into a web of violence that will reach his own family. The consequences will test everything Karp believes about justice and protection in ways he never anticipated.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, investigation
Setting: Manhattan, Hudson River
Period: Contemporary
438 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Signet
Content warnings: violence