In this darkly humorous thriller, reality television becomes too real when a killer with a message preys on the contestants of America's number one TV show. A high-stakes game is played on the set of a live-broadcast, reality-television show where guests are trapped for six months in a haunted mansion. Thousands of miles away, a psychopath is executed by lethal injection in California and dies with a secret that could save many lives. Only a comical detective who fears nothing—except his teenage daughters—can hope to understand what links these two seemingly unrelated crimes, without ever losing his zest for the game or his sense of humor.
The game is reality TV at its worst. Contestants live in a haunted mansion for six months, with all their activities televised to the audience in real timeâ€"which is why having a gruesome murder occur there is almost impossible. That this murder is a copycat version of the crimes committed by a recently executed serial killer makes it a top priority for Alban Bane, former FBI agent and now lead investigator for the Vermont State Troopers. Narrated in a dark tongue-in-cheek manner, this debut thriller is overburdened with suspects and victims who are killed at an alarming rate. There is so much going on that both the reader and the author lose sight of what is supposed to be the real motive for the murders. Despite the promising premise, this is an optional purchase.
[Page 96]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Armstrong's debut falls short of its promising premise: having a murderer stalk the cast and crew of a top-rated reality TV series, Haunted Survivor , which is set in a spooky mansion in the Vermont mountains. Alban Bane, the Scottish-born, Burlington, Vt. based detective assigned to the case, is alarmed by the copycat style of murder, which mimics that of his longtime nemesis, serial killer Tyler Hayden. The perpetrator can't be Hayden himself, though; Bane recently witnessedâ€"and was unnerved byâ€"his execution at San Quentin in California. (Moments before the lethal injection, Hayden whispered that he knew the identity of the man responsible for making Bane a widower.) The detective's psyche is further rocked when he finds several people linked to the Haunted Survivor case who also figured in the Hayden investigation. Suspicion is briefly cast on the program's ambitious, sexy producer, Abbey Chase, for whom Bane unconvincingly falls. Few genre fans will be surprised by the mystery's gory resolution. Author tour. (Jan.)
[Page 40]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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