Outfox

FBI special agent Drex Easton, the hero of this engrossing thriller from bestseller Brown (Tailspin), is obsessed with catching a serial killer who has preyed on wealthy single women for more than 30 years. The cunning murderer, who uses various aliases, leaves no clues behind, only missing women and empty bank accounts. A lead takes Drex and his team to Mount Pleasant, S.C., where he poses as the new neighbor of the suspected killer, now using the name Jasper Ford, who has a beautiful, much younger wife, Talia Shafer. Drex wants to find out whether Talia knows Jasper is a killer, but in the process he falls helplessly in love with her. In a further complication, another FBI agent, who hates Drex and wants to discredit him, tries to shut down the case. Drex sets a trap for Jasper, but his weakness for Talia threatens its success and the lives of his fellow agents. Well-defined characters complement the twisty plot, which ends with a gratifying final revelation. Brown once again shows that why she remains at the top of the suspense field. Agent: Maria Carvainis, Maria Carvainis Agency. (Aug.)

An FBI agent is determined to catch a man who bilks and murders wealthy women, but the chase goes slowly.Brown (Tailspin, 2018, etc.) has published 70 bestsellers, and this one employs her usual template of thriller spiked with romance. Its main character, Drex Easton, is an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer, but for him it's personal. When he was a boy, his mother left him and his father for another man, Weston Graham. Drex believes Graham murdered her and that he has killed at least seven more women after emptying their bank accounts. Now he thinks he has the clever Grahamcurrent alias Jasper Fordin his sights, and he's willing to put his career at risk to catch him. The women Ford targets are wealthy, and his new prey is no exceptionexcept that, uncharacteristically, he has married her. Talia Ford proves to be a complication for Drex, who instantly falls in lust with her even though he's not at all sure she isn't her husband's accomplice. Posing as a would-be novelist, Drex moves into an apartment next door to the Fords' posh home and tries to ingratiate himself, but tensions rise immediatelyJasper is suspicious, and Talia has mixed feelings about Drex's flirtatious behavior. When Talia's fun-loving friend Elaine Conner turns up dead after a cruise on her yacht and Jasper disappears, Drex and Talia become allies. There are a few action sequences and fewer sex scenes, but the novel's pace bogs down repeatedly in long, mundane conversations. Drex's two FBI agent sidekicks are more interesting characters than he is; Drex himself is such a caricature of a macho man, so heedless of ethics, and so aggressive toward women that it's tough to see him as a good guy. Brown adds a couple of implausible twists at the very end that make him seem almost as untrustworthy as Graham.This thriller about the pursuit of a serial killer suffers from an unpleasant hero and a glacial pace. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.