UNSUB

A Novel

By: Meg Gardiner

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A riveting psychological thriller inspired by the never-caught Zodiac Killer, about a young detective determined to apprehend the serial murderer who destroyed her family and terrorized a city 20 years earlier.

Caitlin Hendrix has been a narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB - what the FBI calls an unknown subject - the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet's cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack's failure to solve the series of ritualized murders - 11 seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh - was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father's failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains, for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher the Prophet's twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father's warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father's mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

©2017 Meg Gardiner (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Gardiner's novel breathes new life into the sub-genre with her mastery of police procedure; with superb characterizations of her heroine, the heroine's father and the killer; and with enough twists and turns to leave fans of TV's Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder short of breath. The result is an intelligent, sharply written, compelling page-turner that is satisfying on every level.” (Associated Press)

“An adrenaline-fueled rush, this series first has newly minted narcotics detective Caitlyn Hendrix reassigned to homicide so she can track down a sadistic serial killer, the Prophet...Shades of Silence of the Lambs’ and the Zodiac Killer.” (Boston Globe)

“Gardiner has created the perfect balance of vulnerability and violence in her main characters, all of whom are damaged in their own ways. When the killer becomes a 'hot knife through the center of (Caitlin’s) head,' UNSUB will already have a cold grip on your heart.” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Superb !!

Meg Gardiner has quickly become one of my favorite authors. This series always leaves me wanting more and Unsub is no different.. With dispenser, gore and an 'anything goes' attitude, you'll burn through this one in no time.

loveeeee

Such a great book! kept you hooked all the way through. 10/10 would listen again

Loved it

I know I really like a book when I keep rewinding to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The narrator wasn’t the best choice and there were times the director could have had her reread lines that didn’t sound right for situation- enough so to stand out. Plus, no Bay Area native refers to BART as a subway, and some locales were mispronounced, which was lazy. But overall this story is great, I’d have no issues if I’d just read it.

Excellent!

I have now listened to two of her books and I am so pleased. They are detailed and the characters are easy to picture and follow throughout. It’s so nice to spend money on a book that starts off great and ends even better. Can’t wait for the next! Keep up the great work!

excellent book

excellent book with great twist. with the storyline and the narration I was easily absorbed into a great evening of entertainment. it was very hard to stop listening to because I always wanted to hear what was gonna happen next...

I COULDN'T REMOVE MY EARPHONES

I enjoyed this listen . Caitlin a novice detective gets pulled into a high profile investigation, She has an advantage, her father had hunted a monster called Mercury 20 years earlier. Mercury resurfaces each new murder twists its way through the canticles of the Inferno
Victims are displayed to represent sinners in the circles of hell, Caitlin deciphers the cryptic messages left at the murders. The ending is just the beginning .
This is in no way like DB,s Inferno. Great summer read.

Attention Keeping

I enjoyed the way the story developed. Fast paced with details that provoked thought and curiosity.
A good listen.

A Cop Novel by a non-cop

This was average at best. The story was pretty good however, the telling of it was kind of by rote. It seems to be written by somebody whose life experience wasn’t really the life experience of a cop. It’s what maybe a woman would think cops would sound like. The performance was standard. The reader had an annoying way of speaking very slowly. She didn’t really read the action with any kind of intensity that I feel was required by the writing. I had to speed it up to make it palatable for me. Maybe that’s me, I don’t know. I just felt that it was like watching a kind of average Bit of television. Maybe something you would see on CBS.

Surprise

Suspense always feeling like someone was creeping in the dark listening and about to jump you when you thought you knew his next move.

Must read for Criminal Minds fans!

Fantastic! I love the methodology/MO of the killer. I've read the inspiration for his kills a few times and I suspected he was following it, but it was just vague enough to keep me guessing. Impressive. Can't wait for the rest of the series and the show. Thanks for the rec, Stephen King!

Only complaint is that the narrator is a little dull. She makes Caitlin sound older than she is, but the writing was so good it barely registered as more than a minor annoyance.