The Murder Artist

The bestselling author of *The Genesis Code* and *The Eighth Day* now strikes his most harrowing chord, with a chilling novel that pushes suspense to nearly inhuman limits.

As a television news correspondent, Alex Callahan has traveled to some of the most dangerous corners of the globe, covering famine, plague, and war. He’s seen more than his share of blood and death, and knows what it means to be afraid. But what he’s never known is the terror that grabs him when, on a tranquil summer afternoon, he ceases to be an observer of the dark side and, to his shock, becomes enmeshed in it.

Separated from his wife, and struggling not to become a stranger to his six-year-old twin sons, Alex is logging some all-too-rare quality time with the boys, when they vanish without a trace amid the hurly-burly of a countryside Renaissance Fair.*

**Then the phone call comes. A chilling silence; slow, steady breathing; and the familiar, plaintive voice of a child–“Daddy?”–complete the nightmare . . . and set in motion a juggernaut of** *frenzy and agony.

The longer the police search, exhausting** **leads without success, the deeper Alex’s certainty grows that time is running out.** **And when, at last, telltale signs reveal a hidden pattern of bizarre and ghoulish abductions, Alex vows to use his own relentless investigative skills to rescue his children from the shadowy figure dubbed The Piper.

Whoever this elusive stranger is, the profile that slowly emerges–from previous crimes involving twins, from the zealously secret world of professional magicians, and from the eerie culture of voodoo–suggests that The Piper is a predator unlike any other.** **A twisted soul hell-bent on fulfilling an unspeakably dark dream. A fiend with a terrifying true calling. What Alex Callahan is closing in on is a monster with a mission.

### From Publishers Weekly

A parent's worst nightmare is realized in Case's expertly written new thriller. During a summer-long, last-ditch attempt to reconnect with his family since separating from his wife, Washington TV reporter Alexander Callahan loses his identical twin six-year-old sons at a Maryland Renaissance fair. After facing the media avalanche outside his house, Alex and police detectives discover mysterious objects placed inside: a carefully crafted origami rabbit, a bowl of water in the closet, seven winged Liberty dimes in a neat stack. Following a "maelstrom of emotion," Alex is eliminated as a suspect and authorities concede a lack of reliable leads. Scouring the Internet, Alex discovers connections between several cases of abducted twins and his own situation, and with relentless determination he continues his investigation, traveling to Daytona Beach, Fla., to interview wary sources and Las Vegas, Nev., to research the horrific deaths of two abducted young showgirls. The kidnapper, it seems, is a malevolent magician dabbling in voodoo practices. Case's pace reaches a fever pitch as Alex chases more leads to New Orleans, where he teams up with a local albino sleuth and ends up on the doorstep of a witchdoctor who insists on a nightmarish rebirthing ritual before he'll break his silence on the killer. Northern and Southern California provide the final backdrops for a harrowing conclusion that will leave readers breathless. A long, winding narrative that's impossible to put down, this is another work of superior suspense from the author of *The Genesis Code*.
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### From Booklist

After a series of fanciful international-conspiracy thrillers, Case (aka Jim Hougan and Carolyn Hougan) changes direction with this first-person, present-tense narrative that effectively plays upon every parent's worst fear. Workaholic journalist and absentee dad Alex Callahan takes his twin sons to the Renaissance Faire only to find they've vanished during the distraction of a joust. During the moment-by-moment ordeal that follows, hope recedes, and Alex's life disintegrates until he falls back on his investigative instincts in a forlorn attempt to find his sons, or at least track down their killer. Alex's dogged search takes him around the country, where he meets colorful characters--or colorless, in the case of Pinky, an albino private eye--and picks up intriguing leads about magic, voodoo, and the significance of twins. The disturbing pattern that emerges points toward a grisly use for his boys that is far beyond his wildest nightmares. Case's hero is appealingly fallible, and his gripping pursuit of a warped monster doesn't let go until the final showdown. This solid kids-in-jeopardy thriller should appeal to a wide range of suspense fans. *David Wright*
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