The Caller

Book blurb...

Be careful before answering your next call. It could be the beginning of your worst nightmare.
The terrifying new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of I AM DEATH.
After a tough week, Tanya Kaitlin is looking forward to a relaxing night in, but as she steps out of her shower, she hears her phone ring. The video call request comes from her best friend, Karen Ward. Tanya takes the call and the nightmare begins.
Karen is gagged and bound to a chair in her own living room. If Tanya disconnects from the call, if she looks away from the camera, he will come after her next, the deep, raspy, demonic voice at the other end of the line promises her.
As Hunter and Garcia investigate the threats, they are thrown into a rollercoaster of evil, chasing a predator who scouts the streets and social media networks for victims, taunting them with secret messages and feeding on their fear.

My thoughts…

Wow! Chris Carter, you certainly know how to put the reader in the scene. Unfortunately, the scenes are such that I may never answer the phone again.

If you are a reader of the crime and physiological thriller genre then The caller is a must-read. I read Chris Carter’s last book, I am Death, and a grab from my review states,"Definitely not for the faint-hearted, readers need to prepare themselves for the gruesome nature of the crimes”. This grab also serves as a warning for some of the graphic scenes in this story.

The same detectives, Hunter and Garcia, are searching for a depraved killer. As usual, time is their enemy, and the author uses this to make the novel so gripping you will not want to put the book down.

The plot is clever and well tied up at the end. All the threads needed to give the reader an understanding as to why this evil individual would torture and torment other humans as he does are there and it makes this one very satisfying read - if not a little terrifying.

Does justice reign in the end? Read The Caller to find out.

This review will be laced on my blog at a later time.

What a great read. This is a great example of what a crime novel should be. If you have not read this series add it to your list now. However don't fear you can read each novel as a stand alone novel. Carter is right on point with his writing including all yhe topical elements of todays social media world. A solid thriller and a solid story. Carter is a great writer.

Apparently I've read the second book in this series (cos Goodreads tells me so) but I couldn't remember it or Detective Robert Hunter, and I'm surprised as I most certainly am a convert after this book.

The premise itself was enough to get me in - though the deaths inflicted on the recipients of he-with-the-demonic-voice (and mask!) is a tad gruesome. I read a lot of books about serial killers and on those occasions I try to imagine victims' last minutes I find it just too overwhelming.

But enough reality... back to the land of fiction where the baddies exist on the page and nowhere else.

I loved most of this book. I really liked Hunter, and Carter introduced us to the victims and their friends / family prior to their deaths, so offers some great character development.

My one grumble (dropping it from a 4-star read to 3.5 stars) is that he doesn't really give us a fair playing field when it comes to working out whodunnit. I've mentioned before I dislike knowing who the baddie is from the get-go and thankfully Carter doesn't go there. He gives us a few suspects (and I was sure I'd picked it... but was wrong!); so their identity and motivation is revealed at the end but... I didn't really think we were given the tools to work it out. Although frighteningly, maybe that was just me?!

I'd love to go back and read more of this series now as I'm intrigued by Hunter. We didn't see a lot of his abilities here (given his hefty background in psychology and profiling) so I'm keen for more.