Unnatural Instinct [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Robert W. Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2002

Dr. Jessica Coran faces the most terrifying challenge of her career-when her professional adversary, a criminal court judge, is kidnapped by a deranged man with an unnatural instinct for revenge...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like many Washington D.C. law enforcement professionals, medical examiner Jessica Coran has had plenty of run-ins with Judge Maureen DeCampe, who's a little too liberal for her liking. But when DeCampe is kidnapped and tortured in a scenario so horrible that a psychic colleague of Jessica's falls ill with a mysterious syndrome after she attempts to "sense" the victim's whereabouts, Coran races the clock to find and free DeCampe before her friend can sever the psychic connection with the judge's kidnapper. It doesn't take long for the FBI to finger the perp--the father of a criminal DeCampe sentenced to death--but by the time they track him to the abandoned farm where he's bound the judge to the decaying body of his recently executed son, it may be too late for Jessica to save her friend. Fans of Robert W. Walker's nine previous thrillers featuring the redoubtable Ms. Coran will be delighted to meet her again; despite his sometimes stiff and ponderous style, Walker succeeds at telling a good story with plenty of the gory details that have made forensic suspense an increasingly popular genre. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Jessica Coran, the ace, if dry, medical examiner and detective heroine of Walker's long-running series, has a plum job working for the FBI. In composing her latest adventure, Walker takes his cue from the "unnatural" urges specified in his title and invents a demented father, Isaiah Purdy, who is determined to exact vengeance for the execution of his son, Jimmy, a killer sentenced to death by D.C. judge Maureen DeCampe. Isaiah abducts DeCampe, whisks her off to a newly rented barn by a chemicals factory and subjects her to a slow, gruesome death by gangrene, strapped to his dead son. Though no one much likes DeCampe, who is despised by Coran as a "closet libertarian," Coran sets out to save her. Coran's best friend, Kim Desinor, FBI agent and psychic, inexplicably is afflicted with full-scale life-threatening empathic stigmata, a sure sign that DeCampe is in trouble and perhaps a substitute for real sympathy for the judge's plight. While Coran herself is a sturdy central character who just about keeps the FBI circus on focus, the story flares up only via peripheral, crackpot characters: the Bible-thumping Isaiah Purdy; a homeless ex-teacher and dog lover, Marsden; and Nancy Willis, heroic busybody neighbor. Walker inserts plot devices and clues in a heavy-handed manner, deflating subtlety and suspense, and the novel's climax is perfunctory. Overall, this is a skilled but essentially formulaic suspense tale, high in melodrama.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• ISBN-10: 0425184927
• ASIN: B000HWYKC0
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,736,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My latest several novels have been Original to Kindle, exclusvie works. Most recent has been TITANIC 2012 - Curse of RMS Tttanic, a cross-genre, generational suspense thriller with an occult horror twist. It's a new theory, a theory that proves the innocence of the iceberg, ha! Puts the burden of error squarely back onto Captain Edward Smith's shoulders, but it is also science fiction as it alternates chapters between 1912 and 2012. In future, divers go inside Titanic the Wreck to plunder her interiors. But what they find is murder and mayhem and monstrous stuff! See all ten reviews on Amazon.com

Just prior to launching T2012, I placed up CHILDREN of SALEM, romance and intrigue and ecumenical spies amid the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Talk about a "Bad Time to Be in Love" - but Jere Wakely does love the daughter of an excommunicated witch, Serena Nurse, and he vows to put an end to the insanity of the trials. Painstakingly reserached for some thirty odd years, Children of Salem is both my life's work and now my highest grossing ebook to date, selling 255 copies a month and garnering great reviews (as is T2012). Children of Salem is a big ambitious work that all my previous books have led me to return to over decades to rewrite and rewrite again and again until I got it right.

AFTERSCHOCK is among all my backlisted titles sold years ago to NYC publishers. Aftershock is the ebook bread-winner, the one which as sold the most copies and for a long time had been my leading title in sales. I placed up some 40 "odd" previously published titles ranging from horror and supernatural, occult horror and suspense-thriller to mysteries and historical themes, and now i have 46 Kindle titles available. Would be fifty if not for tie-ups on other titles.

One more recent modern day noir PI novels is DEAD ON from Five Star Books July '09 which has garnered rave reviews and wonderful remarks from Tess Gerritsen, Ken Bruen, JA Konrath, David Ellis, Raymond Benson, and Jay Boninsinga as well as Booklist! Prior to this my City trilogy, City for Ransom, Shadows in the White City, and City of the Absent published via HarperCollins and heralded as great books by The Chicago Tribune, winning the coveted Lovey Award, set the stage for my finally being able to get Childen of Salem RIGHT.

A bit about myself: I grew up in Chicago as my father came out of WWII knowing one skill -- how to drive a truck. As a truck driver, he supported five children. I was born in Corinth, MS., siblings born in Tuskeegee, AL., where my mother hailed from.

I struggled in school in inner-city Chicago, but early on found I had a gift for 'talking my way out of fights' and this translated into 'telling stories' to influence others, and soon wondered if I could not do it for money. I began writing at a young age to 'communicate' ideas and always at the root of my tales are ideas, notions, concepts, issues, fears, phobias,the darkside of human nature, twisted religion, the human conditon, and themes I find fascinating like the injustice we see every day, and vengeance, and greed, and skullduggery all around.

In fact, much of my fiction centers on twisted this or twisted that...from twisted fantasies in the minds of killers to twisted religion in the minds of...yeah... killers and others. I have read widely in all areas of human endeavor and use all areas imaginable in the creation of my characters and stories, and my work is character-driven whether it is a suspense novel or an historical novel.

I recieved a full scholarship to Northwesern Univesity out of Wells High School, inner city, which was some kind of feat, and it was based on my writing ability. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education, went on to accomplish a Masters in English Education. I've taught for over thirty-years to 'support' my habit -- writing. I have always taught full-time while writing full-time, and I 'make' time.

While I grew up in Chicago, and many of my books center there and in the Midwest, I am currently living in Charleston, WV where I am still teaching and writing. I live with four step-children and my ER RN wife, Miranda, whose first novel, a serial killer chase down romp called Absolution, is also available on Kindle. I completed my 50th novel for publication with Titanic 2012.

Wish to thank all my readers for the many, many years of support since writing the spoof on disaster films and books, SUB-ZERO in 1979, and those who supported my Instinct and Edge Series as well as my various horror and other suspense series. I have created no less than eight series characters, all of whom I intend to keep "alive" via Kindle original titles in future. I am currently working on a 4th Geoffrey Caine (pen name) Abe Stroud, archology horror title called Bayou Wulf. For a free download of the first chapters, you can contact me on facebook or my website - www.robertwalkerbooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A judge disappears and the FBI pursues her abductor., September 23, 2002

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unnatural Instinct (Hardcover)

In Robert Walker's latest novel, "Unnatural Instinct," appellate court judge Maureen DeCampe has disappeared from an underground parking garage in Washington, D. C. The FBI fears that someone bent on revenge has abducted her. Dr. Jessie Coran, FBI medical examiner and sleuth extraordinaire, is in charge of the investigation.

Jessie, with the help of her colleagues, including her lover, Richard Sharpe, frantically seeks clues to the identity of Judge DeCampe's abductor. The investigators even enlist the aid of a psychic, Kim Desinor, who senses that the judge has been taken to a place filled with decay. As the investigators race against time, the judge is facing certain death at the hands of her crazed attacker.

Unfortunately, "Unnatural Instinct" does not rise above the pedestrian. The dialogue is stilted and the characters are mostly stereotypes. Although there is a fair amount of suspense as the killer eludes his pursuers time and again, the plot is basically a recycling of many similar novels. The only real distinction of "Unnatural Instinct" is the method that the killer uses to torture his victim. It is a novel idea, as original as it is gruesome, and it is one that I have never encountered before. Overall, however, "Unnatural Instinct" is an average thriller that breaks little new ground.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Punishment Based on an Ancient Code, August 26, 2010

By 

Alan Cook (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unnatural Instinct (Instinct thriller series) (Kindle Edition)

Robert W. Walker does a lot of research for his books. In UNNATURAL INSTINCT, although it takes place in the present, he writes about a form of punishment that was used a couple of millennia ago. I don't know whether people were more brutish then (I doubt it) but it is difficult to read about. However, we need to learn about the past so we known when we're repeating its mistakes (although that doesn't
usually stop us).

Medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran is called upon to find a judge, Maureen
DeCampe, who has been abducted from the parking garage of her courthouse.
Jessica has her lover and a number of other people helping her in a race
against time since they are quite sure the kidnapper doesn't mean to keep
the judge alive long.

The book is well written and very intense. The descriptions are vivid and
graphic. I found myself reading past my bedtime.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars compelling and exciting thriller, August 18, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Unnatural Instinct (Hardcover)

FBI Agent and medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran enjoys some downtime with Richard Sharpe, who resigned his position at Scotland Yard to become an FBI consultant. Their romantic interlude is interrupted when Appellate Judge Maureen DeCampe is abducted from an underground garage in Washington DC Jessica is put in charge of this political hot potato of a case. She immediately concludes that the judge knew her attacker and didn't feel the culprit was a hazard to her.

The judge when confronted by Isaiah Purdy did not feel that he was a threat to her. She knew him from her days as a judge in Texas when she sentences his son to death in the electric chair for a series of rape-murderers. After his son was killed Isaiah claimed the body, drove to Washington DC and abducted the judge. She is now naked tied to Isaiah's son rotting decayed corpse and she will surely die if Jessica and her team fail to find her rather quickly.

There are very few crime writers to day who consistently write compelling and exciting thrillers. Robert W. Walker is not only of those very few, he is elite amongst them. Hopefully he obtains what he deserves having UNNATURAL INSTINCT on all the bestseller lists for its powerful story line with a strong cast. The heroine, a brilliant workaholic, might have finally met her match in Richard Sharpe. They make a good pair personally and professional and it is hoped that there will be more novels starring this couple in the not too distant future.

Harriet Klausner