In for the Kill [Paperback]

John Lutz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Frank Quinn, the relentless detective who made his debut in John Lutz's acclaimed thriller "Darker Than Night", faces his toughest - and most personal - case yet...A madman is stalking women in the city. By the time his victims are found, they've been dismembered with careful precision, their limbs stacked into a gruesome pyramid and completely cleansed of every last drop of blood.Accustomed to working on the most grisly homicides, detective Frank Quinn's nerves don't rattle easily. But when the last names of the killer's victims spell out "Q-u-i-n-n," the veteran cop feels a chill run down his spine. Then a fresh victim is linked to the one woman Quinn can't stop desiring. Hunting down killers is what Quinn does best. But this time, Quinn is up against a psychopath that will test him as never before...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shamus and Edgar award–winner Lutz gives us further proof of his enormous talent for crafting great police fiction in his latest, a deceivingly standard story that pulls retired NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn back into action to help stop a woman-killing madman in New York City. The Butcher, who leaves the dismembered bodies of his victims stacked in bathtubs, somehow avoids leaving any forensic evidence, and it doesn't take much persuading for Quinn's old friend Deputy Chief Harley Renz to get the old detective on the case. Teamed up with an old flame, officer Pearl Kasner, Quinn gets in emotionally complicated waters early on—but things get personal when they realize the first letter of the last names of the five women killed so far spell out Q-u-i-n-n. And that's before Quinn's headstrong daughter unexpectedly shows up in the city. As the bodies pile up, Lutz handles the familiar situation—aging detective locked in battle of wits with brilliant killer—with characteristic finesse, keeping suspense taut, details gritty and twists surprising. Though his New York might as well be Anycity, U.S.A., Lutz has a thorough command of plot and character, making this another enthralling page turner. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

The victims are dismembered, their body parts ritualistically stacked in a bathtub, with all blood rinsed down the drain. Semiretired NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn is lured back to the job out of a sense of service and a chance to reassemble his former team, which not so coincidentally includes his former lover, Pearl Kasner. The case becomes very personal when the first initials of the victims' last names are Q-U-I, and one of the victims was killed in Pearl's old apartment. Nothing is what it seems, and even after a terrific final act, the investigators really don't understand what they've witnessed. But thanks to Edgar and Shamus winner Lutz's brilliant narrative and shifting perspective, readers will know what the detectives don't and will be thoroughly horrified. Moviegoers sometimes hide their eyes during the really scary parts. Readers would do that while turning these pages, too, if not for the obvious drawback. A very scary and suspenseful read. Lukowsky, Wes

Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books; 1st edition (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786018437
• ISBN-13: 978-0786018437
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Lutz's work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective...virtually every mystery sub-genre. He is the author of more than forty-five novels and 250 short stories and articles. His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
When Lutz isn't writing, he's reading, following baseball, dining out with friends, or going to movies. He's a serious movie buff.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida. His latest book is the suspense novel, SERIAL.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exhilarating tense thriller, October 30, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In for the Kill (Paperback)

The city is frantic, especially the women as the Butcher dismembers females limb by limb and stacks each of them into eerie pyramids in their bathtubs. He is extremely precise with his human Lego's, but never leaves behind a forensic trace of any sort.

NYPD Deputy Chief Harley Renz knows he needs his best serial killer specialist to lead the inquiry; however the department's top gun is retired. Still Harley asks former NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn to return to the field to stop The Butcher from killing anymore women. Police Officer Pearl Kasner, Frank's former girlfriend, is assigned to work with him. However, Frank is immediately stunned when he realizes the first letter of the surname of the five victims spell the proper noun Quinn.

John Lutz provides an exhilarating tense thriller using the old standby High Noon premise of a retired police detective in a cat and mouse struggle against a diabolical clever grandmaster killer. The cast is fully developed especially the hero, but it is the serial killer who methodically steals the story line. Readers will enjoy this chess game between two intelligent opponents with the falling pawns being women of the city while Frank's endangered queen might be his partner or perhaps his visiting daughter.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Suspension of Disbelief, August 31, 2008

By 

A Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In for the Kill (Paperback)

Read the book in only a couple of sittings. Very compelling read, a real pageturner. Highly recommended and I look forward to reading the rest of Lutz's work.

A couple problems with this book though.

1) The whole back story of the serial killer is unbelievable.
2) The Pearl character is completely witless. I don't know how things work in the police world, but in my world if a detective has an affair during a case with the prime suspect and/or witness, she never works again. I saw Quinn's daughter as a target a mile before Pearl should have. Pearl never did, and only a dimwit wouldn't have thought of it.
3) It was never explained why the serial killer had a thing for Quinn. Maybe i just missed it. (I skipped a lot of the father-daughter interaction stuff.)
4) The evil mother, whom the police suspect is a little off, asks for a shotgun and they supply it without question, without discussion. A true rolling of the eyes moment.
5) Given the boys' background, who their mother and fathers were, the chances of them having these genius level IQs is about 0. Gimme a break. They grew up in a swamp, killing transients for a living.

There is quite a lot of stuff like this is the book. but it's a fun read, just don't think too deeply about it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serial Killer Duels It Out With Veteran Police Detective And His Team, January 12, 2009

By 

Michael L. Slavin "HardBopper" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In for the Kill (Paperback)

He was called The Butcher. He drowned his victims and then dismembered them. He was brilliant and had grown up dirt poor near the swamps in Florida. Subsequently he moved to New York His mother had taken in older boarders. They disappeared. Their body parts tossed into the swamp as alligator feed. His mother was his teacher. He ran away at age nine or ten. But the psychological damage had been done. Unknown to him his murdering mother conceived another child. A brother. Frank Quinn a retired detective was brought back to bring down the serial killer. Quinn reassembled his former team, both retired, consisting of his former live in girl friend Pearl Kasner and Larry "Feds" Fedderman. The story evolves as the murders continue. The mother and brother read about the killings and come to New York. Detective Quinn decides to use the mother as bait to reel in the killer. An interesting twist to the story is that the brother consumates a brief affair with Kasner and the killer begins to target Quinn's daughter Lauri who had come to New York to find herself. Other reviewers have suggested the story to be bordering on the unreal. Actually, I found it be an excellent page turner that did seem realistic albeit though there were a few parts that pushed the limit.