Catching up on crime: HUSH by Anne Frasier

From the back of the book:

It's criminal profiler Ivy Dunlap's job to unravel the psyches of the most dangerous men alive. None haunts her dreams more than the killer who took her son's life sixteen years ago, then silently disappeared into the dark. Now an urgent request for help from the Chicago police has reawakened Ivy's greatest nightmare.

The Madonna Murderer has returned to fulfill his calling. This time Ivy understands the killer instinct. She knows what man is capable of. This time she's ready to confront her deepest fear, face-to-face. For the very last time.

My Review:

HUSH reads like the mainstream popular crime fiction commonly associated with Karin Slaughter, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson etc. yet it’s enjoyable and gripping from the get-go, largely due to a seriously messed up antagonist whose thirst for murder is as unquenchable as is the limitless lengths he goes to in order to destroy the lives of his victims and their family.

The ‘Madonna Murderer’ murders mothers, punishing them for their sins while claiming to ‘save’ their babies by subjecting them to the same fate.  

Criminal Profiler Ivy Dunlap is a sole survivor, having been moved into witness protection and given a new identity; she resurfaces at the request of the police to aide in the hunt to catch the killer some years after surviving the attempt on her life.

It’s an interesting dynamic; to couple a victim with an ongoing investigation and have it work despite the obvious trepidation of both parties involved. I liked the almost covert way Ivy was instilled into the investigation while keeping her true identity secret - you could see how this affected her with much of her action being driven by the constant pressure to maintain this false identity.

HUSH is a crime thriller, one that has all the hallmarks of the popular genre of modern crime fiction; unfortunately that includes some filler content and inconsequential scenes of semi domestic life and two dimensional character building. Despite this, I still enjoyed the book (even though pop crime fiction isn’t my genre of choice).