Endorsements

4.5 Stars ~ Ah, Jo, I've missed you. It feels like forever since I've had a new release from you, and, frankly, it's been hard. I've been in agony and torment, day after day, pining away for your writing. *grins* Okay, maybe not that bad, but I've missed you. So, you can imagine my reaction when I heard about 'Splintered', book one in a series by the same name. There was squealing, Jo. Squealing, I tell you. Because not only was I getting a new SJD Peterson book, but it's a serial killer murder mystery, starring a hot FBI agent and an equally gorgeous forensic psychologist. I'm in heaven.Special Agent Todd Hutchison, Hutch, and his team have been called in after the murders of two young, male, openly gay men, who were tortured and their genitals mutilated, only to discover another fifteen cases, within the same area, but over eight different jurisdictions. Hutch is furious that Chicago's "finest" don't seem to care a whole lot about the deaths of, as they say, "faggots who were asking for it." Nice, huh? Even better is that for a few of the first murders, no evidence was collected, and the deaths were ruled suspicious instead of homicide. Hutch, Granite, and Byte sure aren't going to stop in their hunt for this killer, though. Hutch knows he's got the best team of them all. Hutch is a profiler at Quantico with an eerie ability to slip into the minds of killers, Granite is a genius at geographical profiling, and Byte, well, you guessed it, there isn't a computer system around that he can't get information out of.“What makes someone look at a gay man as something less than human? That their death doesn’t matter because of who they shared their bed with?”Enter Noah Walker, graduate student in criminal psychology, whom Hutch has spotted in the crowds at several of the dump sites. When Hutch and Granite go to talk to Noah, Hutch interprets his nervousness as guilty or suspicious behavior, when, in fact, Noah can't believe he's meeting the man he's admired for so long, and Hutch is even more gorgeous in person than Noah could've imagined. Noah has been fascinated with serial killers since he was in junior high. In fact, the living room walls of his apartment are covered in newspaper stories, maps, photos, etc. It's a little disconcerting to the average Joe. But Noah lived his own nightmare as a child, when he came home and found his mother and sister murdered, and that killer has never been found.This was an exciting, thrilling, sexy, book, and an intense ride. Hutch and Noah are fascinating characters, each with their own histories and reasons for doing what they do. Hutch is not far away from burnout when he meets Noah, and Hutch really needs a little light amidst all the darkness he sees. The author penned an intricate murder mystery, with a killer I wasn't expecting. I'm really looking forward to the next book, and I can wholeheartedly recommend this one.NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. -