Customer Reviews

Absolute Instinct

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you like spine chilling type books then Absolute Instinct will have you on the edge of your chair. A man sits on death row for a crime he may or may not have commited, the only thing that might set him free is a missing spine, is there a connection? They claim he kills women and takes their spine, but if he's the killer why is there another woman dead and her body missing a spine, can this be a mirror crime? or is the real killer still out there. Time is running out on death row, how many more deaths will take place before they decide if they have two killers or just one and the wrong man will die for the crimes he did not commit. The book is a real spine chiller- Larry Hobson-Author-The Day Of The Rose

As a longtime fan of Robert W. Walker's Instinct series, I was eager to get my hands in his latest Jessica Coran story. It was worth the wait, because Walker's novel made my skin want to slide from my bones.

The killer in Absolute Instinct exhibits his evil nature at the ripe age of seven when his mother catches him sucking the marrow of her dead cat's spine. That scene actually made my blood boil, and I said a curse out loud.

Not to become political in a book review, but I immediately thought of research that shows most serial killers start by killing or torturing animals. I nearly stopped reading in order to write my Congressman a letter pleading for stricter animal cruelty laws. However, I was hooked into finishing this book in hopes that Walker's character, Jessica Coran, would track down this demon child (as the adult he becomes, of course).

In a twist of cruel reality, the child became a man, and that man is obsessed with the human spine. He is tracking his victims and actually removing the spine while the victim is alive. Of course, he doesn't want to be wasteful, and it seems that he is turning the spines into grotesque artwork.

If you have ever wondered if serial killers are born or created from the environment, Walker offers the idea that they are born. The killer is driven and haunted by not knowing who his father is. His mother tormented with tales of his father being a monster, and he is accused of being just like him until the day she dies.

On her death bed, she gives her son a box that contains all the information that explains who the spine sucker is the spawn of. The killer does not open it for most of the story, but when he does long time readers and newcomers alike will be in for a big surprise.

At the same time that the reader is following the killer through his tribulations, we are with Jessica Coran as she works to figure these bizarre murders. One problem is that they are happening across the country, and one state has already convicted someone for the crime. Coran finds herself in a race to not only catch a killer, but to save an innocent man.

It is a fast-paced, well-written, and extremely creepy mystery suspense novel. The kind of book that I Absolutely love.

GRADE: A+

Eric M.Croas

The best forensic series I know of, and this the 11th in the series is absolutely right on. Mr. Walker was among the first to create this genre, working in it before Silence of the Lambs. I am thrilled to learn he's starting a new series with City for Ransom. His writing terrifies and fascinates at once. I loved this book.

Laura Graham caught her seven-year-old son Giles drinking the fluid and eating the marrow of her beloved cat's spinal column. When he reached adulthood he graduated to dining on the spine of humans while they were still conscious and after drinking the fluid and eating the marrow he made the spine a part of his sculpture. In Portland Oregon, a black man was found guilty of killing his white wife and hiding her spinal column. FBI agent Darwin Williams doesn't believe that the man sitting on death row, Robert Towne is guilty.

When Giles takes the spine from a woman in Milwaukee, the M.O. is the same as two other homicides including the one in Oregon. Darwin calls on Dr. Jessica Coran to prove that all these crimes were performed by the same man so an innocent person can be released from prison. When Jessica is finally convinced by the evidence, she talks to the governor for a stay of execution but the racist governor insists he needs more proof. Jessica has Darwin and the death row inmate devise a daring plan to free the prisoner while she offers herself up in a cat and mouse game with Giles who wants to make her his next victim.

This action packed thriller starts off at light speed and only gets faster but the heart of ABSOLUTE TERROR lies with the characters each in their own way going extraordinary lengths to find a way to free a man three days from his date with the needle. Jessica is her usually feisty self, taking daring chances to save an innocent man she does not know. Robert W. Walker is at his absolute best with ABSOLUTE INSTINCTS.

Harriet Klausner

This is the most chilling book I have ever read, and as it is about a killer taking spines for his art, I had to pass it along to my chiropractor, and Dr. M. loved it as much as I did! Great book for pure pleasure and entertainment, and so well written. Anyone giving it a one or two star just must be foul-in-mood or jealous. It is a tremendous read. Can't say enugh. Walker does things in his books that no one else can dream of.

This latest addtion of the "Instinct" series finds forensic diva Jessica Coran on the trail of a disturbed serial killer who leaves his victims without their spinal cords but with a lovely charcoal drawing. Paired with a handsome, black FBI agent, Jessica becomes invovled in a a last ditch attempt to free a man from death row.

Unfortunately, this is one painful read. The dialogue is stilted and the FBI characters are so grossly unprofessional it counfounds belief. The governor is a stereotypical, racially insensitive, politically incorect, sexually aggressive pig. The confrontations with him quickly devolve into insults that ultimately have no consequence. The silly subplot about freeing the innocent man on death row quickly falls into the realm of the ridiculous.

On the plus side, the victims are engaging and the serial killer is fairly well crafted and a refreshing change from the run-of-the-mill slice and dicer. But all in all, Absolute Instinct stinks.

Here are just a few examples of this absolutely bad writing and editing. When a character is reading a book intently, she is "pouring" over the book; perhaps the author meant "poring". When a character finds another's conduct bad, the first character is "enamored"; perhaps the author meant "not enamored". When a character finds something interesting, he is "peaked"; perhaps the author meant interest was "piqued". I could go on and on, but these are just a few example of lazy writing.

If the plot and dialog weren't so stilted, I could forgive minor errors, but I was stuck with this novel on an airplane.

By the way, the author in his "Acknowledgments" spends most of his words on himself, even describing himself as the "undisputed king of series fiction" and denies drinking vodka while writing this book. I kid you not.

Finally, the initial reviewer has a few errors in her comments. The first character mentioned was not Laura Graham, but Larina Gahram. The black FBI agent was not Darwin Williams, but Darwin Reynolds.

This book blew me away from the first sentence to the last. I can only tell you that it is for smart readers, readers who love a surprise at every turn and action on every page. Walker's way of writing is absolutely visual and clean, yet literary at the same time. Every sentence is crisp and clear, and he never confuses you or loses you; it is as if he reaches out from behind the book, takes you by the hand and guides you through, and at the roughest, scariest moments, he's still got hold of your hand...or is it your mind. This book literally snatched me up from the get-go and never let me go or let me down as in so many books when you have figured out everything half-way through and the rest becomes a stupid soap opera filled with drama better saved for your moma. I am on to Walker's new series now and it is amazing that one who writes so well about current law enforcement and evil so deliciously can do the same in another entirely different time period. What Walker does with researched subjects is to make them compelling whether is is forensics or the streets of Chicago in 1893 or phrenology. Love this author, love this book. It's another keeper that will not see the inside of a used bookstore for sure.