I Am Death by Chris Carter

First published in Great Britain in 2015; published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on May 30, 2017

The serial killer who becomes Robert Hunter’s nemesis in I Am Death is a well-dressed con man who has the ability to set people at ease before he kills them. Fortunately for the real world, serial killers are extremely rare, but thriller writers love to invent them. And of course, the victims are all the sort of people readers like, although they aren’t given much substance beyond “young, attractive, good person.”

In other words, if you read thrillers regularly, you’ve read this one before. Brilliant serial killer leaves tantalizing clues, eventually directing one at the investigating detective. Unfortunately, Hunter misses the meaning of a fairly obvious clue for quite a long time, which is inconsistent with what we are told about his remarkable intelligence. But as we expect of our crime novel heroes, he redeems himself later.

Hunter’s investigation begins with a dead babysitter who was clearly tortured for several days before her body was found. It continues by following the formula of serial killer thrillers: the killer taunts the cops as he keeps killing, leaves clues because he considers himself smarter than the cops, and eventually … well, you know the rest.

There isn’t much subtlety in I Am Death. Bad parents are the worst parents imaginable. Torture killings involve exceptionally brutal torture (sensitive readers may not be able to handle some of the scenes in this book). And while bad people are really, really bad, good people are really, really good. In other words, they are boring and empty.

I don’t have a problem with Chris Carter’s prose. The story moves quickly because it’s written using the formula that some thriller writers love (short chapters, short paragraphs, the kind of book that readers consider a page-turner only because there is so little content on each page). I suppose I should give the ending credit for not being entirely predictable, but Carter only managed that by making the ending entirely contrived. I just didn’t believe much of anything about this novel, which is pretty typical of the serial killer novels that modern crime writers produce so obsessively. I Am Death is far from an awful novel, but it will entertain fans of fast-moving, unchallenging formula fiction more than it will appeal to readers looking for credible plots and substantial characters.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

An Evil Mind by Chris Carter

First published in Great Britain in 2014; published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on December 1, 2015

The serial killer in An Evil Mind refers to an FBI study that supposedly claims 500 serial killers are at large in the United States. The FBI statistics I can find put that number at 35 to 50 and many authorities consider even those estimates to be exaggerated. In any event, if you read enough crime novels, you might think a serial killer lurks on every corner. There are so many serial killer novels that it is difficult for writers to find a fresh angle. Chris Carter doesn’t quite do that here. He gives us a Hannibal Lecter clone with a twist, but the twist is not sufficiently innovative to make his villain stand out.

A traffic accident leads to the discovery of severed heads in the trunk of a car in Wyoming. Robert Hunter, an LAPD detective who happens to be one of those gifted, all-knowing criminal profilers who exist only in crime fiction, is called upon to advise the FBI. He’s tapped for assistance not so much because of his profiling skill but because the killer will only speak to Hunter.

The killer is apprehended early and much of the story involves the killer’s descriptions of past murders. Structuring the novel in that way deprives the story of suspense until, well after the midway point, Carter tries to inject some by using a well-worn device (one victim may still be alive, can she be rescued before she dies?). The device is too overused to have any hope of generating the suspense Carter wants to achieve.

The only thing that approaches freshness in An Evil Mind is the killer’s relationship with Hunter. Of course, that relationship leads to a revelation (I won’t spoil it here) that fills Hunter with fury and despair and other emotions that are intended to make the reader sympathize with Hunter. Unfortunately, the revelation is so contrived that it fails to serve its intended purpose.

Carter repeatedly relies on transparent, over-the-top devices to manipulate his readers’ emotions. Really, readers don’t need to have a kidnapping victim work as a volunteer for children with terminal cancer in order to care about her. Readers don’t need to listen to Hunter describe how he learned about his girlfriend’s pregnancy (“We were both…” Hunter paused to catch his breath. “So happy”) the very day she was killed in order to understand why, years later, he is still haunted by his past. None of this feels honest and the lack of honesty kept me from buying into the story.

The story moves at a good pace, thanks to the usual thriller formula (short chapters, lots of dialog). Carter’s prose is well-suited to the story he tells. Characterizations are about average for a modern thriller. The last few chapters hold a surprise and the resolution is better than I expected it to be. Predictability, contrivances, and a lack of originality are the novel’s key flaws. They aren’t necessary fatal -- it is easy to stick with the story until it reaches its climax -- and fans of serial killer fiction who don’t mind reading the same story over and over will find things in this one to enjoy (including a particularly reviling psychopath and some gruesome descriptions of his evil deeds). If you are looking for something new, however, look elsewhere.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS