Book Review: The Night Spider

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Night Spider     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
John Lutz
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Serial Killer   Thriller   Police Procedural
Pinnacle, Nov 2003, $6.99, 416 pp.

The serial killer murdered his third high rise victim with the same MO of tying up his prey with sheets so tight they dig into the skin before he stabs her thirty-six to thirty-seven times. The wrappings are so tight that little blood seeps to the floor in spite of the multiple stabbings. NYPD Detective Paula Ramboquette is assigned lead as her senior partner Roy Bickerstaff nears retirement. Still both are amazed at the crime scene as it appears a spiderman climbed up thirty floors on the side of a building before entering the apartment of Sally Bridge through a window.

Assistant Chief Roland Larkin worries that this case will need a special hand so he persuades disability retired former homicide captain Thomas Horn to lead the inquiries. He looks at the crime scenes especially the last one and shows that the killer did not go up, but came down the shorter distance from the roof. However, the Night Spider welcomes the challenge of Horn as he has no doubt that the retired cop or perhaps his wife will become his next victim.

THE NIGHT SPIDER is an exciting police procedural thriller that starts at an incredible pace and for the most part maintains the action until the end. The tale is incredibly gripping when the killer takes center stage during the novel. A subplot involving Thomas’ personal relationships unnecessarily horns in on the prime cat and mouse scenario that makes the book worth reading. Sub-genre fans will be elated with John Lutz’s strong Manhattan police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner