50/50 Killer [Hardcover]

Steve Mosby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2007

Mark Nelson is a young police officer, newly assigned to the team of John Mackey - a highly-decorated and successful detective, and author of a bestselling true crime book based on his years of experience catching killers. Mackey is a legend in the force and it's a huge opportunity for Mark, who has dedicated his life to his job ever since the death of his girlfriend years before. When a man is found burned to death in his own home, Mackey's team is thrown into an investigation that grows darker and more complex at every turn. The evidence points to a man known as the Fifty-Fifty Killer. His targets are young couples, who he stalks and subjects to a single night of torture and manipulation, testing and destroying the love between them. Only one of them ever survives until dawn. And his victims include a former member of Mackey's team. Soon afterwards, a young man walks into a police station badly tortured and with his memory in tatters. He knows only that his girlfriend is still being held captive in the woods he's escaped from. But the team know that by fleeing, the man has sealed his girlfriend's fate. If they can't piece together his experience by daybreak then she will die in his place. However, all is not what it seems ...

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Mosby is an extremely talented writer. ... [he] writes with an unrelenting pace and with such heart that I tore through this book. I can't wait to see what he does next.' -- Jon Jordan, CRIMESPREE

'Mosby writes with confidence and originality, and displays an impressive feel for horror.' -- Marcel Berlins, THE TIMES

'Mosby's electrifyingly scary thriller will have you checking the tent flaps at night ' -- DAILY MAIL

'One has to marvel at the talents of writers who can create monsters of diabolical cruelty and evil and yet keep intact the thread of credibility and involvement on the part of the reader. Mosby has followed his startlingly original The Cutting Crew with a novel somewhat less surreal and more grounded in police procedure, but no less thrilling, compulsive and difficult to put down. ...you should not presume to think you know what is going on until you have read to the very last page.' -- Matthew Lewin, THE GUARDIAN

'This is the book that should see him acclaimed as a potential great of the crime genre as it's an instant classic. ... Mosby's background is in horror and that's often clear here - there are some distressing scenes. But he's also an excellent writer who steers well clear of genre formulae and manages some really deft characterisation - this is no standard potboiler. And there's a switchback twist at the climax that is brilliantly conceived and consummately executed. Pretty much flawless.' -- Paul Connolly, LONDON LITE

'Thriller new boy Mosby is shaping up to be a king of the craft' -- DAILY SPORT --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Steve Mosby lives and works in Leeds. He is the author of two novels and is currently working on his third. Visit his website at: www.theleftroom.co.uk.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (April 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752874128
• ISBN-13: 978-0752874128
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,353,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good plot with excellent twists, August 26, 2007

By 

Helen Simpson (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 50/50 Killer (Paperback)

At the beginning of each chapter the reader is given the date and the time in relation to dawn. Before I got to know the characters and realise who was who, this didn't mean much to me. However, as the book moves on and it becomes a race against time it added to the sense of urgency. I also liked how each chapter was a different character, written in the first person.

I had mixed feelings about the epilogue, feeling that one of the victims was being let down by a character I'd liked. However, I could also see that maybe it would be a good outcome for the people involved after their own personal experiences.

Overall, an original and interesting thriller with a couple of really good twists.