The Violet Hour - Softcover

Montanari, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099524821 ISBN 13: 9780099524823

Publisher: Arrow, 2010

Synopsis

Johnny Angel is found brutally murdered with a dead prostitute in his bed and a needle full of heroin in his arm. It's all the more shocking because he's a priest. But when Dr Bennett Marc Crane, a prestigious plastic surgeon, is the next victim of a vicious attack of the same manner, it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose...

And as this homicidal maniac exacts his vengeance upon more innocent victims, evidence of another long-buried crime is uncovered. One that starts with a Halloween celebration at an exclusive college party twenty years ago and ends with a murderous plan for delayed revenge.

For Nicky Stella, a hungry journalist, this is just the sort of sordid story that could land him a cover article. But when he digs a bit too deep, the killer's attention turns towards Nicky and he must find the killer before he becomes the next victim...

About this title

Review:

Richard Montanari combines some unusual ingredients (the ethnic sociology of Cleveland, Ohio; the poetry of T.S. Eliot; the eccentricities of e-mail and chat rooms) with some of the more familiar elements of genre fiction (the hungry journalist who lucks into a good story; a series of current crimes linked to an old atrocity) to excellent effect in The Violet Hour. Writer Nicky Stella--besieged by debts and responsibilities of his own--tries to save his career by finding out why poetry students who went to a party at Case Western Reserve University 20 years ago are suddenly dying in very nasty ways. With its eclectic mixture of new technologies and classical murder mystery plot, The Violet Hour is a sleek and dark story of delayed revenge. Montanari's well-received and equally chilling first thriller, Deviant Way, is available in paperback. --Dick Adler

Review:

"Consistently surprising . . . Montanari keeps the reader deliciously off balance throughout, letting the novel accrue horrors and deft misdirections, right until its gory end" (Publishers Weekly)

"The novel is, like the nameless killer's victims, well executed. And like the killer himself, fiendishly twisted. A real page turner" (Booklist)

"Told at breakneck pace, with more than one truly frightening villain, and a protagonist whose tenacity in the face of evil makes him a hero for our times, you turn the pages as if your very life depends on it" (Daily Mail)

"A relentlessly suspenseful, soul-chilling thriller that hooks you instantly" (Tess Gerritsen)

"A no-holds-barred thriller that thrusts the reader into the black soul of the killer ... those with a taste for Thomas Harris will look forward to the sure-to-follow sequel" (Library Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0099524821
• ISBN 13: 9780099524823
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352