THE SERIAL KILLER'S WIFE by Robert Swartwood

The Serial Killer's Wife, by Robert Swartwood, is an explosive summer thriller. You adrenaline junkies out there won't want to miss this one (Jen over at Book Den, I'm looking at you!).

THE SERIAL KILLER'S WIFE is one of those books that begins with a heart twisting moment of suspense and doesn't let up until the very end.

Author Blake Crouch sums it up nicely, "This is a scary, thrilling, page turning, race-against-the-clock novel if there ever was one, with a true shocker of an ending. Miss this one at your own peril".

Indeed!

Elizabeth Piccioni, wife of the famous serial killer Eddie Piccioni, started a new life after her husband was arrested for murders she knew nothing about. New address, new job, new names for her and her son. She leaves her old life behind in hopes of saving her son from the horrible legacy left by his father.

Then one day out of the blue Elizabeth receives a threatening phone call from an anonymous caller, "- how would you like me to kill your son - fast or slow?"

Her son has been abducted.

Now Elizabeth is on a frantic road trip from hell. Soon people are dying and the body count continues to climb as the mysterious caller terrorizes her with tasks she must perform within a certain amount of time or else her son will be killed.

THE SERIAL KILLER'S WIFE, though written with a different approach, reminded me a little of Stephen King's A GOOD MARRIAGE from his collection of novellas Full Dark, No Stars. In that story a woman makes a discovery that her husband of many years is actually a serial killer. Both A GOOD MARRIAGE and THE SERIAL KILLER'S WIFE are great explorations into wives of these horrible monsters.

Robert Swartwood is a sharp writer, his prose lean and mean as a razor blade. He notches up the tension from chapter to chapter like a master story-teller, keeping you reading long into the night.

Like Crouch says, miss this one at your own peril.