Book Review: Unsub

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This is my book review of Unsub by Meg Gardiner.

Book Summary:

Detective Caitlin Hendrix desperately wants to apprehend a murder suspect who has resurfaced after more than 20 years. The murders are reminiscent of the killings that sent her father over the edge when he was a detective on the case.

Mack failed to solve the series of ritualized murders. Eleven seemingly unconnected victims were left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh. It was the final nail in the coffin for a once-promising career, and it nearly destroyed him.

Called the Prophet, the killer terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city.

She has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges. He is an UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject.

Now He’s Killing Again

But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her. And she is determined to catch the man who is terrorizing a city.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings to stay away from this case. But she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder.

Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood?

Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name? Or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

Where has he been for 20 years? Why did he stop killing and then start up again? Why is he sending her “messages” through his ritualistic killings?

This psychological thriller was inspired by the never-apprehended Zodiac killer. CBS is said to be adapting this book into a TV series.

About the Author:

Meg Gardiner was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Santa Barbara, California.

She practiced law in Los Angeles and taught in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Later, she moved with her husband and three young children to London, where she began writing suspense novels.

In addition to her fourteen novels, Meg has published short stories in American and British magazines.

Beyond writing, Meg is a three-time Jeopardy! champion and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. She lives in Austin, Texas.