Richard Montanari Libri

The terrifying new Byrne and Balzano case from the author of The Killing Room and The Stolen Ones.

When the first body is found, mutilated and strangled on the riverbanks, Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano suspect yet another case of random urban violence. Then it happens again. And again

Destroyed by fire years ago, the infamous Philadelphia State Hospital was known as a warehouse for the criminally insane. But one man never left. By night Luther walks Philadelphia's backstreets; by day he roams the catacombs beneath the city. Luther is everywhere and nowhere; he's is in your dreams - and your nightmares. Then Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are called to a bizarre murder scene: a man has been killed by a railroad spike driven into his head. But this is just the beginning of a trail of evil that will lead Byrne and Balzano back to the hospital, to a missing girl and to a horror they could never have imagined ...

This brawny, hard-edged novel from an emerging star of suspense pits two besieged Philadelphia homicide detectives against a fiercely intelligent and relentlessly brutal serial killer--a monster fueled by a twisted, sacrilegious fury.

In each soul, a secret ...Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano's first assignment from the Cold Case files is the brutal murder of a young runaway. The lifeless body of Caitlin O'Riordan was found carefully posed in a glass display case in the desolate Philadelphia Badlands but, as Byrne and Balzano rapidly discover, she was just the first pawn in the killer's twisted game...A mysterious phone call leads them on a scavenger hunt for a second victim. This time a young girl has been dismembered, her body parts left in three boxes in the basement of a deserted house. More clues lead to other victims and, as the body count rises, it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose, hell-bent on completing the 'performance' of a lifetime.As more runaways vanish, Byrne and Balzano come to realize that the homicidal mastermind plans to complete seven depraved tricks in his dark and dangerous magic act. With Balzano increasingly obsessed by a case that haunts her, and Byrne struggling with a loss of his own, the stakes are mounting. But this is one game they can't afford to lose...

Packed with ingenious twists and relentless excitement, and starring two of the most compelling heroes in crime fiction, The Killing Room is a major thriller event: the best novel yet from one of the world's best suspense writers

Your face is a blur to him. But your body still bleeds. The Farren family has been a plague upon Philadelphia's most dangerous neighbourhood, the Devil's Pocket, for generations. There, row after row of tumbledown houses hide dark secrets - none darker than Billy, the youngest Farren. Afflicted by a syndrome that means he can't recognise faces, Billy must use photographs to identify his family - and his victims. And when your life has bled away, he takes a final, gruesome picture for his wall. But what is the meaning of the horrific ritual Billy enacts with every murder? And is there any connection to a childhood event Detective Kevin Byrne has buried so well it's hidden even from his former partner Jessica Balzano?

It is fall in Philadelphia and the mutilated body of a man has been found in one of the poorest neighbourhoods. When homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano investigate, they soon realise that their crime scene is linked to an unsolved case. Eight years ago, another body was found in the same position, killed in the same manner. Apart from this killer's unusual calling cards, the crime scene photos are identical. As another body appears, then another, it becomes horrifyingly clear that someone is recreating unsolved murders from Philadelphia's past. And the killer is closer than they think ...

A rising star in the New York District Attorney's office and on the cusp of enormous success, Michael's perfect life begins to unravel when he finds himself the target of a depraved madman, a man who covets everything Michael has and will stop at nothing to take it all away.