Michael Van Rooy’s writing is fast-paced, highly entertaining, and exciting with a mix of quirky humour and dark, dry wit. Spine-tingling moments alternate with edge-of-your-seat action in Van Rooy’s Monty Haaviko crime thriller novels.This third instalment in the Monty Haaviko series takes a darker tone from the previous two episodes, An Ordinary Decent Criminal (ODC), and Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal(YFNC). A sophisticated, multi-layered plot keeps pages turning and readers hooked. This time, Monty is tangled in political intrigue, blackmail, corruption, and a long-standing feud in which he becomes a pawn. At the same time, a serial killer threatens the love of Monty’s life—his wife Claire, and soon, escape seems impossible. Monty is approached by a wealthy businessman to run for an elected position on the city’s new Police Commission. As an ex-con, this is something Monty finds intensely amusing. However, he soon discovers his backer has a long-standing rivalry with another businessman who is backing his own patsy for the Commission, and who stands to gain a fortune if his man wins. When Claire starts getting mysterious gifts and flowers, Monty learns about a serial killer the police have been tracking unsuccessfully for many years. He is torn between leaving town and giving up the Police Commission, or staying and risking Claire’s life. But the killer is one who, once he sets his sights on his victims, will stop at nothing to make them his.