The first victim was found hanging from a rope. The second, beaten to death in a pool of blood. The third, decapitated. Their backgrounds were as strikingly different as the methods of their murders. But one chilling detail linked all three crimes: their tongues had been cut out and replaced with a silver spoon. The local police had enough evidence to believe they were witnessing a rare--and disturbing--phenomenon: the making of a serial killer...

"He'll kill again."

Investigator Red Metcalfe has made national headlines with his uncanny gift for tracking killers. Getting inside their heads. Feeling what they feel. He's interviewed the most notorious serial killers in the world. He knows what makes them tick. But not this time. The killer's motives and methods are so elusive, so brilliant, that Red is forced to search the darkest corners of his own soul--and face the guiltiest secrets of his past--to see the truth. This time, the life he saves could be his own...

Prepare yourself for the stunning debut of a major new talent...and the most frightening book you will read this year.

Boris Starling's Messiah...A modern masterwork of serial killer suspense so realistic, so harrowing, it could only have been written by a former reporter and confidential investigator...

* Great new voice--in the tradition of Thomas Harris and John Sandford

* Great credentials--author is a former reporter and specialist in confidential investigations and kidnap negotiations

* "Fast-paced, gritty...one of the best books on murder you'll read."--Esquire (UK)