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Summary
Summary
In 1972, on the day of his sentencing, renowned artist and serial killer Marsden Hexcamp is shot dead in the courtroom. Members of his Mansonesque band of followers are imprisoned or simply disappear.Fast-forward more than thirty years: A suspected prostitute is found murdered in a candlelit motel room, the first in a series of horrors suggesting HexcampÂs art remains alive and treacherous. Following a trail of beautiful--and profoundly disturbing--artwork, homicide detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus descend into the shocking world of the Death Collectors, people who spend vast sums to collect serial-killer memorabilia. As Ryder and Nautilus race to solve a thirty-year conspiracy, it becomes sadly evident that at the intersection of art and madness, death is beauty, tragedy a memento, and suffering suitable for framing.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
On the trail of a serial killer, Alabama detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus uncover a network of wealthy collectors who'll pay top dollar for celebrity slayer artifacts. There is some irony that Kerley calls attention to our nation's unhealthy fascination with murderers in the course of a serial killer novel. Reader Hill aids the author's intent by employing a smarmy, supercilious voice for a key broker of the murder memorabilia and other unpleasant vocal characteristics-arrogance, brutishness-for the collectors. He also provides authentic and distinguishing accents for a large cast of mainly deep South dwellers, including gruff African-American Nautilus and Ryder, who narrates the novel with an unwavering easy-going, slightly whimsical drawl. But Hill's most impressive achievement is in turning Ryder's brother Jeremy, an incarcerated homicidal madman who, as written, is essentially one more Hannibal Lecter clone, into an original, mood-swinging nightmare whose 180-degree shifts from croon to rant can add a chill to the hottest summer weather. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, May 30). (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Thirty years after his death, a serial killer makes a comeback of sorts for the connoisseurs determined to collect his artwork. Marsden Hexcamp always thought of himself as an artist. In Paris, he gathered groupies who hung on his every pronouncement and considered his half-dozen murders studies for "Art of the Final Moment," a work whose medium is disturbingly unclear. Caught, tried and convicted by the state of Alabama, he cheated the electric chair when one of the groupies shot and killed him and then herself. Now, Mobile Detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus (The Hundredth Man, 2004) catch a murder at the Cozy Cabins that points straight to Hexcamp. Marie Gilbeaux clearly wasn't killed by the late artist or by the acolytes who've recently and violently followed him to the grave. Who, then? The disappearance of Rubin Coyle, the attorney who left his prints inside the fatal Cozy Cabin before he vanished, leads the maverick cops to a secret auction for samples of Hexcamp's art certain upstanding citizens can't live without. It's a good thing mouthy TV reporter DeeDee Danbury insinuates herself into the case, because Ryder and Nautilus need all the help they can get doping out why Marie Gilbeaux was killed, buried, then dug up and planted in the Cozy Cabins. Kerley, who writes like a house afire, has a boundless and truly ghastly imagination that'll keep you awake long after you turn the last page. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Marsden Hexcamp was murdered in a courtroom 30 years ago by one of his devoted acolytes. It wasn't considered a tragedy. Hexcamp, who would surely have been sentenced to death for a series of grisly murders, painted pictures depicting the crimes he committed, and these "works of art" have become extraordinarily valuable with underground collectors. Mobile, Alabama, police detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus infiltrate this macabre art world to find clues for a series of contemporary murders that suggest Marsden's handiwork, both in their details and because the killer is leaving behind small pieces of Marsden's art. Assisting Ryder and Nautilus in their investigation, as he did in The Hundredth Man0 , last year's well-received series debut, is Carson's brother, Jeremy, himself an institutionalized serial killer, who both provides his brother an entree into the world of serial-killer memorabilia and--a la Hannibal Lecter--offers insight into the mind of a killer. A genuinely creepy journey into madmen and their devoted followers. --Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Perhaps Kerley's 25 years in advertising explain his delight in the macabre, what he calls the shadowy side of human nature. In his debut thriller, The Hundredth Man, he introduced Detective Carson Ryder (small, white) and his partner Harry Nautilus (large, black), who make up a special unit of the Mobile, AL, police force focusing on weird or psychological cases. Here, they investigate a series of murders that seems tied to a dead serial killer whose Charles Manson-like influence may be continuing in his followers. Ryder immerses himself in the bizarre world of wealthy collectors of serial killer leavings, the "death collectors." As in the first book, here he gets help from his brother, himself in a psych ward for multiple killings. Kerley has a subtle touch for complex plotting and employs a shotgun's force of action, a wildly exotic group of characters, and an unusual locale to great effect. As page-turners go, this is a beauty; readers will expect to see more of Ryder and Nautilus. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/05.]-Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
