ONCE SHADOWS FALL

ONCE SHADOWS FALL Synopsis A fast paced psychological thriller that pits a serial-killer against two detectives racing to save his new victims from a gruesome fate. Romantic barns and farmhouses? While trying to compete her class photo-study assignment, twenty-year old Melissa Harris gets more than she bargained for. The farm she initially thought was abandoned now has a new visitor, a scarecrow standing in the middle of the field. Sitting atop the scarecrow is a large black bird pulling as something red with its beak. Curious, Melissa approaches the macabre figure. As she draws near, the bird flies off, knocking the scarecrow's hat the the ground. Beneath the hat is a dead man. Draped around the man's neck is a woman's locket. The bizarre murder brings Beth Sturgis and Jack Kale together. New to Atlanta's Robbery-Homicide Division, thirty-four year old Beth is determined to solve the crime which has suspicious similarities to the scarecrow murders that took place eight years earlier. Copycat or something new? Her reluctant partner is Jack Kale, a psychologist and the former FBI profiler who caught the original killer at Georgia's Cloudland Canyon. To the surprise of everyone who knew him, the brilliant Kale, once a national hero, has since become a recluse. He now leads a quiet life teaching at Georgia Tech University ... until Beth Sturgis pulls him into the case. Beth Sturgis, is a strong, intelligent female lead, driven to prove she belongs in Robbery-homicide. In the midst of the first murder investigation, they learn two more women have been kidnapped. Soon a cat and mouse game develops between the detectives and a killer given to taunting them with clues. Told in the third person, the story is similar in style to the fine works of Jeff Deaver and Jonathan Kellerman and moves along at a very rapid pace maintaining a high tension level throughout. There are significant psychological overtones not only into the killer's mind, but the mystery surrounding Jack Kale's abrupt departure from the FBI. Add to this the developing relationship between Jack and Beth and the pages keep turning right up until the surprise ending.Read less