The Book of Cain: A Novel of Suspense [Hardcover]

Herb Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2001

With suspenseful intensity, this engrossing novel unfolds a story of criminal pathology that introduces the talent of Herb Chapman, a new master of the genre. With two parallel narrations -- one from Isaac Drum, a serial killer who routinely poisons his victims with nonlethal doses of strychnine to torture them with orgasm-like convulsions before he ends their lives; the other from John Keenan, the FBI profiler who feverishly pursues, and captures, the monstrous Drum -- Chapman's tautly crafted tale offers a rare view into both the mind of the criminal and the heart of the hunter. It is eight years after Drum's capture, and only weeks before his date with the executioner, that he smuggles a letter out of prison for the widow of a police detective whom Drum had murdered. In it, Drum promises that if his execution goes forward, the woman's son will be abducted and killed. As the clock ticks toward Drum's last hours, Keenan must learn if the threat to the child is real or just so much bluster from a sick killer unwilling to leave this world without inflicting more pain. Ingeniously plotted and written with red-hot force, this riveting debut novel challenges Keenan's wits with the terrifying possibility of an unknown killer controlled by a deviant puppeteer. The crashing climax will leave you breathless.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Delving into the pathology of violent crime and victimization, Chapman creates a memorable psychopath in this suspenseful debut. The killer is Isaac Drum, a misfit who suffers the kind of unhappy upbringing that many others have endured without lasting torment. Drum, however, grows into a monster, eventually going on a rampage, poisoning several women with strychnine and raping them as their bodies convulse. Drum is caught, killing a policeman in the process, and is sent to death row. The story then jumps ahead and Drum, scheduled to die by electrocution in two weeks, tells authorities that unless his sentence is changed to life in prison, he will enlist a fellow murderer to kill the son of the policeman whose life he took. As local police and the FBI scramble to protect the boy and determine whether the threat is credible, Chapman brings into full focus the profound effect that Drum has had on the lives of many people around him. They include police widow Marianne Paxton, struggling to blend into society; FBI profiler John Keenan, a troubled, lonely man who learns hard truths about himself during the Drum ordeal; and Baptist pastor Joe Cameron, who is enlightened by his ministering to Drum. Chapman, a former counselor to juvenile offenders, effectively escalates his characters' self-discovery process as Drum's threat plays out and the tension builds. He deserves high marks for showing, in well-selected detail, the childhood and juvenile events that shaped Drum. The author wisely avoids trying to pinpoint the origin of evil, but his effort at drawing its framework brings some social merit to the serial-killer genre. Agent, Stephanie von Hirschberg.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

At times, it seems as if the author of this first novel were deliberately inviting us to compare his book to Silence of the Lambs. That's a dangerous thing to do, but remarkably, Chapman survives the comparisons nicely, thanks to his genuine storytelling gift. The best part about this impressive debut is the way the author chooses to tell his tale, which centers on the attempts of an FBI profiler to save the family of a police officer murdered eight years earlier by Isaac Drum. Instead of relating the origins of the story (Drum's crime spree, capture, incarceration) in a series of brief flashbacks, Chapman devotes almost half the novel to the backstory. By the time we enter the present, we know the killer, Drum, and the profiler, John Keenan, intimately, and we understand the strange relationship between the two men, which proves vital to the central plot. It's an unusual way to construct a novel, but here it's completely successful. Thomas Harris fans will be especially interested, but this one is a sure thing for all thriller readers. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers; First Edition edition (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708492
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708499
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,511,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent mystery, October 12, 2001

By 

P. L. Howland (Largo, FL. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Cain: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

This is a great first novel. Quite accurate in psychological aspects. A little different as there were few "twists and turns" as it was more a "police procedural". The characters were well developed and believable and real. I am looking forward to his next. Well look for his website and see what is forthcoming. Long and held my attention. Very well written.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent change of perspective on the serial murderer, May 21, 2001

By 

Carole L. Lee (Southfield, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Cain: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

This book was recommended to me by a friend and was well worth every penny I spent on it. It has more than the standard two or three main characters, yet each is well-drawn and believable. Normally, when I read a mystery, by the time I'm 75% of the way through it, my main goal is to determine "whodunnit". This book totally engrossed me, so that I paid as much attention to all the details of the tale at page 275 as I did at page 25. It also left me contemplating the legacy that various 'ripples' in our lives create in the world of those around us. I suspect that Mr. Chapman's book will remain on my bookshelf for many years to come.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Cain and two days rain, November 17, 2010

By 

Pitch Mirabelle - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Book of Cain: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

A very, very good read. My wife enjoyed it immensely.
The surprise is that I did also. I don't usually take to
crime/suspense novels but this one held my attention to the last word.
The tension didn't end until the resolution only a page or
two from the end. Then there was a slight twist after that
just to catch your heart off guard.

I thought the character development and miscellaneous notes
of environment descriptions were impressive- especially for
a first time author. My wife, to this day, believes that the
antagonist was the most evil portrayals she has ever
read (and she reads quite a lot of these crime/suspense novels.)

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good
tension filled read. Book of Cain and two days rain will certainly
produce an enjoyable literary weekend.

Good job, Herb. You win the dollar.

PM