The Eleventh Victim by Nancy Grace (Hyperion, August 2009)
Here’s a brief description:
As a young psychology student, Hailey Dean’s world explodes when Will, her fiancé, is murdered just weeks before their wedding. Reeling, she fights back the only way she knows how: In court, prosecuting violent crime…putting away the bad guys one rapist, doper, and killer at a time. But dedicating her life to justice takes a toll after years of courtroom battles and the endless tide of victims calling out from crime scene photos and autopsy tables. Just as she grows truly weary, a serial killer unlike any other she’s encountered begins to stalk the city of Atlanta, targeting young prostitutes, each horrific murder bearing his own unique mark. This courtroom battle will be her last.
Hailey heads for Manhattan to pick up the pieces of the life she had before Will’s murder, training as a therapist. In a vibrant new world, she finally leaves her ghosts behind. But then her own clients are brutally murdered one by one by a copycat using the same M.O. as the Atlanta killer she hunted down years before. As the body count rises across Manhattan, Hailey is forced to match wits not only against a killer, but the famed NYPD.
I am a huge Nancy Grace fan (Scott Peterson Case! OJ Simpson!) and was thrilled to read her first suspense novel. Believe me, it did not disappoint! I was pulled in from the very first page and loved the fact that she obviously drew from events in her past as well as created a first rate mystery. This lady certainly knows her way around the courtroom and has a handle on all of the “players” as well. I hope this is just the first of many more to come. Highly recommended!
