This is the third book in the Robert Hunter series and we're back following Hunter and Garcia when an unidentified woman is found dead. The cause of death is unclear - she has no signs of injuries or wounds except her mouth and vagina have been sown shut. A few days later, another body is found with similar stitches and the investigation heats up and leads Hunter to cross paths with a private investigator who is working a missing persons case. Hunter suspects the killer might be abducting and keeping multiple women hostage at one time, getting rid of them one at a time. In order to find the killer, Hunter must find the link between not only the victims but also the unique signature of the killer.
TW/CW: stalking, abduction, domestic violence
Being the third book in the series, Carter really feels like he's found his stride. As with the previous books, we get an interesting and ingenious killer as well as some gruesome deaths. However, we didn't get as much of the killer on page as I would have liked.
This killer hit on some very specific fears of mine which meant that there were a few scenes which I found genuinely scary. Obviously, your mileage may vary with that particular point. More generally, I did find this killer a bit more grounded and solid than the killers in the previous books. We don't see a lot of the killer on page but the little we do see don't make him seem like some sort of almost super-human psychopath. The kills felt much more technical and less intense than the previous killers - the kills had a bit of a Saw vibe to them where the killer was removed from the deaths. I think having the bodies be found with not even a scratch on them was an interesting choice that really highlighted how different this killer is from the previous ones we've seen in the series. The first two books in the series were pretty heavy on the on-page gore and while this might not be as outwardly bloody, the kills are certainly not for the faint of heart.
I really enjoyed the characters in this entry, but it felt like we pulled back from the team dynamic and instead were following Hunter on his own a bit more. I really that the plots in these books are following the same pace as publishing them (approximately 1 year between books). However, this means that we are missing a lot of character development between books. Hunter and Garcia are partners all year long, not just when a particularly gruesome case pops up. They've been working together for 3 years now and have a really great rapport that I just wanted to see more of this time around. We do get some really great scenes with them together and they're getting real close to the "finish each other's sentences" level of partnership. I just wanted to see them more together and get some character development that way instead of seeing Hunter being moody and then going off on his own to investigate. We also get the PI character who I really liked but didn't feel like she got enough page time to really create a full character. I would have liked to see her and Hunter teaming up more - again, looking for Hunter to be more than just a lone wolf.
The investigation worked really well for me but I think there were some places where it dragged on just a bit too much between reveals. Also, we had a ton of moments where one character would discover something, basically say "OMG, is that what I think it is" and then the chapter would end and we'd have to wait longer to find out what they found. This might just be a pet peeve of mine, but I find this a very artificial way to build tension and suspense, especially when it is done so often. I'm on board when it happens occasionally and makes sense in the plot (an example would be when Hunter suddenly realized where he recognized someone from and then had to rush off to find Garcia). But it felt like most of the clue reveals were done in this manner and I just got annoyed with it. The reveals aside, the actual plot of the investigation was well done and I enjoyed the amounts of red herrings/dead ends we got. I think the investigation plot was very logical and didn't overly rely on Hunter being a super genius to figure things out.
Overall, this was a really solid entry in the series and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the 4th book next month.
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