Just finished The Fourth Monkey, by J.D. Barker, thanks to a conveniently protracted rain and wind storm. This was a rather long (500+ pages) and unimportant yet nonetheless entertaining novel in the detective/thriller genre, with nothing edifying or mind-expanding to offer, just straight thriller fare, but well done as far as that goes.
The monkeys of the title allude to the well known three monkeys--see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil--with a fourth added, do no evil. A twisted serial killer makes the fabled monkeys his signature--kidnapping a victim and then, over the space of a week or so, removing one ear, both eyes, and the tongue, and sending these to his real target, a corrupt, lawless family member. In this way, the killer exacts a greater punishment than death on the wrongdoer--he or she who has done evil. Which is certainly bad news for the otherwise innocent victim.
Intrepid Detective Porter and his team race to solve the case, identify the killer, and find his latest captive before it is too late. Along the way, there are some truly grotesque scenes and situations, and Barker paces the book nicely, despite its length.
No doubt, this would make for a good movie of the week on TV.
The monkeys of the title allude to the well known three monkeys--see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil--with a fourth added, do no evil. A twisted serial killer makes the fabled monkeys his signature--kidnapping a victim and then, over the space of a week or so, removing one ear, both eyes, and the tongue, and sending these to his real target, a corrupt, lawless family member. In this way, the killer exacts a greater punishment than death on the wrongdoer--he or she who has done evil. Which is certainly bad news for the otherwise innocent victim.
Intrepid Detective Porter and his team race to solve the case, identify the killer, and find his latest captive before it is too late. Along the way, there are some truly grotesque scenes and situations, and Barker paces the book nicely, despite its length.
No doubt, this would make for a good movie of the week on TV.
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