Series: Jack Slaughter Thrillers, #1
Author: K.A. Lugo
Length: Novel
Genre: Thriller
Digital Price: $4.99
Print: $9.99
The Book
The Texter
Fallen homicide detective, Jack Slaughter, closes the door on the home where his perfect family has been brutally snatched from him. Moving across the city, he works as a private investigator to fund his own investigation into what happened to his family—who killed his little girl, Zoë, and where is his wife, Leah?
Every three month for the last three years, Jack receives a simple text telling him where he can find his missing wife. There’s a body at each location, but none of them are Leah.
Jack hates missing person’s cases, but they’re his bread and butter. He only takes the case to find Carl Boyd's missing wife because the details of her disappearance closely match Leah’s. He hopes by finding Bonnie Boyd, he'll find his own wife.
The Butcher
Following the leads in the Bonnie Boyd case, Jack discovers someone has been killing women all over the city for the last three years, a fact Jack’s ex-partner and still best friend, Ray Navarro, has neglected to tell him. The city has a serial killer and officials haven’t been able to find a single lead on the person they’ve dubbed The Butcher.
Could Bonnie Boyd’s disappearance be linked to The Butcher? More important, was Leah one of The Butcher’s victims? Could he have gone so far as to murder a child?
With every clue Jack weaves together, the more his own life unravels.
Excerpt
San Francisco, California
Wednesday
“Is it her? Is it Leah?”
Jack Slaughter’s heart hammered a hole in his chest as he watched the
rail-thin form of the newly-made detective, Paul Travers, stride
toward him. If he could read the man’s expression and body language,
Travers seemed more amused by Jack’s presence than annoyed.
When Jack started lifting the crime scene tape to duck under it,
Travers pushed him back with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“You gotta stop turning up like this, Jackie.” Travers’ flippant voice
grated on Jack, almost as much as the man’s ruddy complexion and
brassy hair. His voice edged on being just a bit too high and too nasal
to want to listen to for long. Jack didn’t know how his best friend and
former partner, Ray Navarro, could stand it.
With a hand still on his shoulder, Travers nudged Jack back. He made
a shooing motion with his other hand. “Why don’t you just go on home
and let the professionals do their jobs?”
Travers’ condescending tone made Jack want to punch him in the throat.
“Where’s Ray?” He followed Travers’ gaze over the man’s shoulder and
saw Ray standing over the victim’s body several yards away. It appeared
to have been positioned at the foot of a tall pine at the dead-end of
the road. “I want to talk to him.”
Travers caught his gaze and looked back. “Go home, Jackie. You don’t
belong here.” He emphasized the word you. They both knew why Jack
was no longer Ray’s partner, nor on the force.
Ignoring the little pissant, Jack shouted over the man’s shoulder. “Ray!”
His friend looked up and gave a quick wave to acknowledge he’d seen
Jack. He finished up with a CSI, then made his way over.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” When Ray reached up to shake hands,
Jack palmed his cell phone into Ray’s.
“I told him to go home . . . partner.”
In Jack’s opinion, Travers seemed to take every opportunity to rub it in
that he now occupied Jack’s former position. It didn’t escape his notice
that Ray also cringed at the word partner. Jack knew his leaving the
force had been a blow to his friend too.
He gazed directly into Ray’s eyes, trying to keep the anxiety he felt
from his voice. “I got another one.”
“Jack—” Ray sighed, gazing down at the phone’s screen to the open
text—Spreckels Lake.
Since the very first text he’d received—You’ll find your wife in the
Panhandle—there had never been anything more than the next location.
The texts came every three months, as if on schedule. Every one of
them led Jack to a body, but none of them were Leah. If the texter was
trying to drive him crazy, it was working. But he couldn’t risk that the
guy was crying wolf. Even after three years, Jack still showed up . . .
just in case.
Ray handed back the phone then threw his hands onto his hips. Jack
could almost hear the gears working in his friend’s head as he gazed
around Spreckels Lake with obvious concentration.
This was a beautiful location. Jack remembered bringing his family
here, but pushed the memory from his mind. He gazed away from the
water, trying to breathe. He knew the answer, but he had to ask it
anyway. “Is it her?” Even he heard the waver in his voice.
“You gotta let me do my job, man. You gotta trust me. If this was Leah,
you know I’d tell you.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts, Jackie,” Travers cut in, edging up closer to him as if posturing.
“You’re not a cop anymore. You don’t belong here. Go home.”
Jack starred at Travers with a look he hoped said, go ahead and touch
me again, pissant, I dare you. He must have got his point across because
Travers hesitated before stepping away, his back noticeably erect.
“I’m sorry. Paul’s right. You don’t need to be here. It’s not her.” Ray’s
voice remained calm. Jack knew the tone, as he often used it to try
defusing situations with suspects and distraught families.
“You’re just a distraction, Jackie.”
“Paul!” Ray’s warning tone made Travers jump, as it did those around
them.
In his heart, Jack knew when a victim’s family turned up on a crime
scene, or tried insinuating themselves into an investigation, it only
disrupted the process. More times than he could count, the time he’d
spent dealing with the family would have been better served on the
investigation.
Jack shrank away from the crime scene tape, his energy evaporating.
“You’re right, Ray. I’m sorry. I just can’t risk that the one time I don’t
respond to the text, it really will be Leah.”
“I know, Jack. I know.” Ray put his hand on Jack’s shoulder this time,
drawing Jack’s attention. “But this isn’t her. Go ho—” Ray stopped short,
both knowing Jack hadn’t been home since that night three years ago.
“Go back to your place. I’ll stop by after my shift. We’ll talk then,
okay?”
Jack looked past Ray’s shoulder to the lifeless body. He watched as
technicians carefully placed a protective tarp over the victim, telling
him the CSIs had retrieved all the scene evidence they needed and now
waited for the coroner’s removal.
Dumping the body at the lake had been a bold move. Even at this
dead-end in the road, Golden Gate Park attracted a huge number of
people, homeless and visitors alike. Someone had to have seen
something.
“Can you use an extra hand?”
“Sorry, Jack. You know I can’t. I gotta get back. I’ll see you later, at
your place.”
“Don’t bother.” Jack didn’t have to look back to know Ray watched to
make sure he was leaving.
From behind him, he heard Travers ask, “What’s with that guy?”
“Lay off, Paul,” Ray said. “You’d react the same way if your daughter
had been murdered and your wife was still missing.”
The Review
Jack Slaughter's wife disappeared and his toddler daughter was murdered. What an awful thing for a man to come home to and it haunts him daily. He was a cop but now is a private investigator, sleeping in his office as he can't bring himself to live in the home where the crime happened. Every three months he receives a text that tells him where he can find his wife, never coming to fruition though.
There is a person who is killing women all over San Francisco and has been for three years and has not been found. Jack's previous partner Ray's wife ends up as one of the women missing. Even though Jack is no longer a cop, he vows to find Ray's wife. One of his cases as a PI is to find a missing wife of Carl Boyd. Are these cases linked? Jack hopes so and that if he finds Bonnie Boyd, he can find his wife Leah. Will he find Bonnie in time? Go get your copy of the book to find out!
I love a good murder mystery and this one was no exception. There was a lot of research and it was evident that the author is very familiar with the San Francisco area. I felt like I was there, experiencing what Jack was. The writing was such that I didn't want to put it down. If you love a well-written mystery, then this one is for you!
I received a copy of this book from the author for review purposes only.
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