Publisher Description
In the USA Today–bestselling author's "addictive second Karen Vail thriller," the FBI profiler tracks a serial killer through California wine country (Publishers Weekly).
In this follow-up to the standout bestseller The 7th Victim, Karen Vail ventures to Napa Valley, where a serial killer has been crushing his victims' windpipes and leaving their bodies in caves. But when the Crush Killer learns that an FBI profiler has joined the Major Crimes Task Force, the newfound attention emboldens him, and he sets in motion a plan that wreaks havoc on the town—as well as the task force. Although a sudden break in the case helps Vail zero in on the identity of the killer, she senses that something isn't right. If she doesn't figure it out in time, the consequences will be dire.
In a rousing climax that leaves readers breathless, and which Publishers Weekly termed a "shockeroo ending," Vail must pick up the pieces—and clean up the carnage left behind by the Crush Killer.
Meticulously researched during years of work with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, this high-velocity thriller from national bestselling author Alan Jacobson features the kind of edge-of-your-seat ending that inspired Nelson DeMille to call Jacobson "a hell of a writer."
Crush is the first installment of a two-part story that concludes with Velocity, book three in the Karen Vail Series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Jacobson's addictive second Karen Vail thriller (after The 7th Victim), a serial killer spoils the FBI profiler's romantic Napa Valley vacation with boyfriend Det. Robby Hernandez. During a Silver Ridge Estates winery tour, Karen and Robby stumble over the strangled and mutilated corpse of Victoria Cameron, daughter of an influential winemaker. The narcissistic psycho responsible? John Wayne Mayfield (aka the "Napa Crush Killer"), who taunts the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force formed to catch him. As more victims are found, their windpipes crushed and bodies inflicted with postmortem wounds, the motive behind such a killing spree appears connected to conflicts within the Georges Valley American Viticultural Area board. Jacobson jolts standard serial killer fare with some twists concerning the publicity-hungry Crush Killer and insightful peeks into California's wine industry. The action culminates in a shockeroo cliffhanger.
