Review – The Knight

FBI Criminologist and Special Agent Patrick Bowers’ narrow flashlight beam revealed the body’s outline on the shadowed, dank floor when he entered the cave. Ten sturdy candles surrounded the woman and only added to the ghastly surreal feel of the grisly crime scene. He knew she was dead, the odor alone told him that. But her undisturbed clothing gave no sign of sexual assault and he wondered why he’d been called in.

Then he saw the “decomposing human heart” clasped to her chest and knew why the Denver Police Department had called the FBI, who then called the FBI Denver field office and assigned the case to him. Bowers was part of a joint task force that evaluated bizarre evidence, violent criminal offenders, and offered investigative strategies to apprehend violent criminals. But, in this case, his friend, Lieutenant Kurt Mason requested him because this murder appeared to be linked to a double homicide from the day before.

The Knight, third installment in the Patrick Bowers thriller series ratchets up the tension once again from the very first word and doesn’t let up until the last page is turned. His third installment in the Bowers File will keep readers up all night to learn “who done it.” Something even the author didn’t know until three days before the manuscript’s due date, when he changed the killer’s identity much to the chagrin of his editor.

Bower’s description of the killer to his teenage step-daughter Tessa, aka “Raven,” as “silence of the lamb’s bad,” says it all, with gruesome details left up to the readers imagination.

The story develops on three levels with an intriguing intermesh that includes a medieval manuscript the killer meticulously patterns for use on his victims, a reopened murder trial that causes Bowers to question his integrity, all balanced against his love and concern for his teenaged step-daughter when she learns her biological father is alive. That information undermines all Tessa knows about her mother and sets her on a deadly course to learn more.

The Knight walks a fine balance between tense courtroom scenes, dangerous investigative leads, and the loving relationship Bowers has with his step-daughter, Tessa. But, most of all Bowers learns a revealing fact-the killer seems to be tracking him more than he’s tracking the killer.

James first two books in the series, The Pawn and The Rook, earned Publisher’s Weekly’s rave reviews when they called the series “a wild ride with a shocking conclusion.” The Knight, “gritty and chilling,” offers the same intensity as his other bestselling psychological thrillers.

As an avid mystery genre’ fan, I’m particularly delighted to review anything written by Steven James. His work never includes curse words and blood and gore, but causes readers to use their imaginations, which makes him an exceptional writer of any genre’. For more information: http://www.patrickbowers.com/