The man made of smoke A novel

The serial killer known as the Pied Piper is a man made of smoke. But in an eerie encounter, 12-year-old Dan Garvie did see him with one of his victims, and in a state of confusion, did nothing. It has haunted him ever since. He now works as a criminal profiler, having dedicated his life to seeking justice as a sort of penance. When his father is reported to have died by suicide, he returns to his childhood home on an isolated island. Dan's curious investigating leads him back to the Piper, who had long since been found dead--but now someone seems to be killing off all of the people involved in his last known appearance. Some excellent misdirection on the author's part takes Dan down many paths in a brilliantly scripted game of cat and mouse. The tone is dark and foreboding, at times terrifying, and, at others, surprisingly tender and emotional. The bond between Dan and his father is extraordinary. Despite some distance in recent years, they were profoundly bonded by the trauma of Dan's experience and still have the ability to channel each other's thoughts. A mesmerizing read, best read in a well-lit room.

North's rollicking latest (after The Angel Maker) centers on a serial killer who targets children. When Daniel Garvie was 12, he narrowly escaped the notorious Pied Piper killer at a highway rest stop before encountering a boy who'd soon become one of the Piper's many victims. Decades later, Daniel has forged a career in criminal psychology and remains obsessed with the case. It also became an object of fascination for Daniel's policeman father, John, who spent much of his retirement trying to crack it. When Daniel learns that John has died by suicide, he returns to the unnamed island where he grew up to follow breadcrumbs his father left behind--both about his own suicide and about a new string of murders that suggest the Piper may have reemerged. As Daniel pieces together John's clues, he learns that all of the recent victims were present at the same rest stop where he fled the killer. North toggles smoothly between Daniel's present-day inquiry, John's sleuthing in the past, and the final days of a young boy named James. Fans of Thomas Harris will be creeped out by North's hair-raising antagonist and gripped by the plot's dual investigations. This is a winner. Agent: Sandra Sawicka, Marjacq. (May)