A Cruel Season for Dying
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this chilling series debut, Japanese-American Detective James Sakura must match wits with one of the most brutal killers ever to stalk the streets of New York.
Bodies like desecrated fallen angels are discovered posed nude with white wings that jut from slits cut into their shoulders. Understanding the shocking fantasy underlying these ritual executions is the key to catching the killer. When an eight-year-old girl become's the monster's next victim, renowned NYPD homicide detective Lt. James Sakura must use all of his skills and every instinct he has to see into the heart of a murderer who believes he is waging a war against God. As time runs out and the killer's targets become those closest to Sakura, he must risk everything to face this madman alone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Assured prose helps redeem a routine plot in Moore's mystery debut, which pits Japanese-American NYPD lieutenant James Sakura against yet another deranged serial killer. Sakura's adversary seems to target gay victims, who are found dead of unknown causes with swan feathers inserted into slits in their backs to simulate angel wings. The high-profile crimes focus both media and departmental pressures on Sakura, who races the clock to stop the murderer from killing again. A forensic psychiatrist and his disgraced former partner assist in developing a profile, a task that becomes more challenging when the MO appears to change. Promising leads come from a Yeshiva University professor, who directs the team to clues from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. Predictably, those close to the homicide detective fall into jeopardy. Flashbacks to Sakura's Japanese upbringing and his relationship with his blind wife provide glimpses of hidden depths, but these suggestive elements contribute little to his investigative approach, which ultimately depends too much on chance. Despite the novel aspects of Sakura's struggles to live as part of two cultures, fans of such serial-killer classics as Thomas Harris's Red Dragon may find this effort overly formulaic. Hopefully, in any future books about this sleuth who for now remains more enigmatic than intriguing, Moore will couple his writing talent with more creative story lines.
