Product Description

The streets of Philadelphia are blistering in the summer heat, the homicide rate is soaring and the nights belong to the mad. Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are prowling the streets with a growing sense of unease. Where next will evil rear its ugly head? When a series of seemingly unrelated crimes shatter the restless silence of the city, their worst fears are confirmed. A beautiful secretary is slashed to death in a grimy motel shower. A street hustler brutally murdered with a chainsaw. Piece by piece, a strange and sickening puzzle presents itself: someone is meticulously recreating Hollywood's most well-known and horrifying murder scenes, capturing them on film and inserting the clips into videos - for an unsuspecting public to find. While Kevin Byrne begins furtive investigations of his own, Jessica Balzano goes undercover to work the steaming back alleys of Philadelphia, entering a violent world of underground film, pornography and seedy nightclubs, hidden to all but the initiated. Discovering that none of The Actor's victims are as innocent as they appear to be, the two detectives arrive at a terrifying reality: They are not just chasing a homicide suspect. They are stalking evil itself ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40863 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

About the Author
Richard Montanari is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rosary Girls as well as the internationally acclaimed thrillers Kiss of Evil, Deviant Way and The Violet Hour, all of which were published in more than twenty countries. He is a novelist, screenwriter and essayist and his work appears regularly in national and regional publications in America. His next thriller featuring Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, Broken Angels, will be published in April 2007. For more about Richard Montanari, visit www.richardmontanari.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Very gripping
Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano return in the second book in the series written by Richard Montanari where a killer known as The Actor is re-creating famous murder scenes from movies such as Psycho, Scarface and Fatal Attraction and placing them in VHS copies of the originals for unlucky viewers to see.

I absolutely loved the first book in the series, The Rosary Girls, and this one is even better. Again Montanari writes such a gripping and well thought out thriller with so many twists and turns that kept me guessing who the killer was right up until they were revealed, and I was still wrong!

The killings are brutal and gory, the suspense is so high in places that I just had to keep reading to find out what happens next and the characters are a lot more developed here too, so if you have read the first book it is interesting to see them progress and find out more about them.

Overall this is an excellent book that should not be missed and I can't wait to read the rest of the series now.

A Brilliant Follow On
Don't worry about this being the second in the set because the book it a very good standalone in its own right. This is a very good, complex, plot which has you second and third guessing and in my case at least, completely fooled by the red herrings. There are good insights into the key characters, adding to that already disclosed earlier,and a very good high tension pace in the plot.

I consider this book to be above the usual run of the mill crime books. far surperior in content, atmosphere and writing. Well worth buying. I intend to buy the next in the set when it's out in 2008.

Montanari thrills again!
A follow-up to The Rosary Girls, which I would advise to read first as it develops the lead characters of Kevin and Jessica which will add depth (and enjoyment) to the Skin Gods. This story is quite fresh in portaying copycat murders from famous movie scenes (Psycho, Fatal attraction, Scarface, etc.) and hence the hunt for "The Actor". As with Montanari's previous books, we are treated to a good dose of suspense at a nice pace- both classic ingredients for a good book. Thankfully the book doesn't go sleazy as it delves into seedy bars and adult films, which I have experienced other reputable authors doing unsuccessfully. The various threads of plot here are neatly woven together in the last few chapters to finish off an enjoyable if a bit grissly, read.