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Forgive Us Our Sins

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A disturbed Vietnam veteran reads a book about a disturbed Vietnam veteran going on a shooting rampage. He sees a coded message that tells him to do the same, and he chooses a crowded shopping mall to do it.

Life imitates art, and author Dr. Harry Kline sees his now notorious book shoot up the best seller list.

Kline tries to cope with his feelings of guilt by trying to take the advice he gives his psychiatric patients: deal with it, get over it. During a televised interview he announces that he is starting research for his next book. Non-fiction this time, Kline wants to tell the story of the survivors of murder victims.

Kline's appearance evokes two written and troubled responses. The first comes from the sadly angry father of one of the girls killed in the mall. The second is a fan letter from someone who claims that their paths have once crossed. He signs himself only as "Artie" and sends along a photograph of a young priest, killed for "the sin of recklessness". "One down", is part of the warning.

Kline's interviews the parents and family of a murdered young woman in Boston, as part of his ongoing research, and meets the driven and enigmatic FBI agent, Veronica Pace. Her ties to the investigation of the murder seem to be only peripherally professional.

Kline, a widower, understands the loneliness and regrets which haunt the survivors of the murder victims he interviews. Although the death he experienced was "expected" one, it nonetheless shattered dreams of a future shared with someone with whom he had chosen to live and grow old. Death changed and interrupted his life, even as it ended his wife's. This insight serves him well as he pursues a killer who is intent on dispensing his own category of justice. Luber provides the reader with an admirable selection of well motivated potential killers, each reacting to their personal losses in a variety of destructive ways. The clues are there and fair, and the dénouement may be a head slapper to those readers too busy with being caught up in the excitement to pay close attention to the clues.