The creeper

*Starred Review* In Carver's follow-up to The Surrogate (2011), Essex detective inspector Phil Brennan is barely getting his life back on track after his last harrowing case when he's faced with another: several young women are missing, and their disappearances seem to point to a serial killer, but there are few clues to go on; in addition, the egos and ineptness of Brennan's coworkers on the force are not helping matters. Brennan would like to rely on the expertise of his best profiler, who happens to be his girlfriend and mother of their newborn child, but she's inconveniently done a runner. When the boss chooses a profiler-in-training simply because she's cheap, the investigation is detoured down a path strewn with secrets, lies, and twists. This one will keep you guessing, with satisfying results—British-crime fans and readers who enjoy serial-killer novels should definitely put The Creeper on their fall reading lists. Carver does a good job setting up the various personalities and backstory, so it's not necessary to have read the first book of the series before tackling this one, but most readers will want to catch up quickly. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

After Carver's excellent debut thriller (The Surrogate), reader expectations will be running high for this second installment featuring DI Phil Brennan. The Creeper meticulously stalks, kidnaps, and brutally tortures his victims before killing them. Brennan desperately tries to focus on solving the case, but capturing a killer isn't easy when ­Brennan is surrounded by drama among his fellow police officers and his personal life takes a disturbing turn. VERDICT Carver starts off with a bang and again demonstrates her skill at writing from multiple viewpoints. However, the predictable storyline features a mystery that is too easily solved and suffers from a disappointing lack of detail in the two main characters' relationship. Readers who don't mind thrillers or mysteries with easily solved plots may enjoy this book, while others may be unimpressed.—Amy M. Davis, Parmly Billings Lib., MT (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In British author Carver's taut follow-up to her 2011 debut, The Surrogate, Colchester Det. Insp. Phil Brennan and his hodgepodge Major Incident Squad pursue a serial killer, the eponymous creeper, who likes to torture and mutilate his female victims. Could 26-year-old Suzanne Perry, to whom he's sent a chilling warning, be next? Carver exposes the all-too-human foibles and internal police politics that can impede investigations even as the lives of future victims hang by a slender thread. Brennan's personal life is in shreds after police profiler Marina Esposito, the mother of his child, inexplicably leaves him. And thanks to austerity, he's forced to work with Fiona Welch, a cheap profiler knockoff. Worse, the MIS team is saddled with his superior's paramour. But when the investigation inevitably implodes, Brennan has to man up and pull the pieces—personal and professional—back together. Carver's just-one-more-chapter pacing, subtle clues, and cunning plot twists once again do the trick. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory and Company. (Sept.) [Page ]. Copyright 2012 PWxyz LLC

A sequel to The Surrogate finds Detective Inspector Phil Brennan tracking down a brutal killer who stalks his victims before subjecting them to torture, a case that proves more horrific when Phil discovers unsuspected aspects of the culprit's twisted psyche. By the author of The Surrogate.

Detective Inspector Phil Brennan tracks down a brutal killer who stalks his victims before subjecting them to torture, a case that proves more horrific when Phil discovers unsuspected aspects of the culprit's twisted psyche.

Suzanne Perry is having a vivid nightmare. Someone is in her bedroom, touching her, and she can’t move a muscle. She wakes, relieved to put the nightmare behind her, but when she opens the curtains, she sees a polaroid stuck to the window. A photo of her, sleeping, taken during the night. And underneath, the words: “I’m watching over you.”Her nightmare isn't over. In fact, it’s just beginning. Detective Inspector Phil Brennan of the Major Incident Squad has a killer to hunt. A killer who stalks young women, insinuates himself into their lives, and ultimately tortures and murders them in the most shocking way possible.But the more Phil investigates, the more he delves into the twisted psychology of his quarry, Phil realizes that it isn't just a serial killer he’s hunting but something—or someone—infinitely more calculating and horrific. And much closer to home than he realized . . .

Powerful and unflinching, the sequel to the acclaimed thriller The Surrogate, by rising star Tania Carver.