Private Justice — Richard Sand

When Richard Sand burst upon the scene with his espionage thriller, Tunnel Runner, he was hailed by critics as Ken Follett and Robert Ludlum. Now he brings us a masterpiece of the private eye genre which combines the gritty rrealism of Ed McBain and the horror suspense of Thomas Harris. After taking his brutal revenge for the murder of his twin brother, Lucas Rook leaves the NYPD to work for others who crave what they call justice. When mobbed-up Harry Raimondo needs someone to investigate the murder of his daughter, he turns to Rook, who is still driven by the anger that has not left him.

Rook's dark journey takes him into Inspector Joe Zinn's precinct and on a collision course with Homicide Detective Jimmy Salerno. The Raimondo case was his and though it has long gone cold, it still haunts him.

Then another little girl turns up dead. And then another. The nightmare is upon them fast. The piano teacher has monstrous hands, the medical examiner is a ghoulish dwarf, and an investigator kills himself.

The FBI claims jurisdiction and the police and Rook race to find the killer, whose appetite is growing. Betrayal and intrigue is added to the deadly mix as Private Justice careens towards its startling end which confirms Sand as a master story-teller.