Product Description

The spine-chilling serial killer thriller featuring Carson Ryder - the homicide detective with a hidden secret that could destroy his career These brothers have murder in their veins. Detective Carson Ryder's sworn duty is to track killers down. He's never revealed the fact that his brother, Jeremy, is one of America's most notorious killers -- now imprisoned. Secretly, Ryder has used Jeremy's homicidal insight to solve cases. He's made a career out of it. Now his brother's escaped and is at large in New York. With Jeremy the chief suspect in a series of horrifying mutilation-murders, a mysterious video demands Ryder be brought into help. It looks like a straightforward manhunt. It couldn't be more different -- or more terrifying. A dangerous cat-and-mouse game develops between Jeremy, and the NYPD with Ryder in the middle, trying to keep his brother alive and the cops in the dark. But it's a game of life, death and deceit, a game with an unknown number of players and no clear way of winning!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11698 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
Praise for the Carson Ryder series: 'Superb stuff' Independent on Sunday 'Kerley will truly scare the pants off his readers. This one's another winner from a writer moving towards the top of the thriller heap' Publishers Weekly 'Kerley, who writes like a house fire, has a boundless and truly ghastly imagination that'll keep you awake long after you turn the last page' Kirkus 'A fascinating and frightening take on the genre' Independent on Sunday 'A chilling journey into a pitch-black mind' Michael Marshall, author of The Straw Men trilogy 'A sturdy hero with a clearcut mission and a setting that holds possibilities for fresh adventure. Kerley writes in a thrusting style that pushes the action from crime scene to autopsy table' New York Times Book Review 'Superb! fantastic' Sunday Express

About the Author
Jack Kerley worked in advertising and teaching before becoming a full-time novelist. He lives in Newport, Kentucky, but also spends a good deal of time in Southern Alabama, the setting for his Carson Ryder series, starting with 'The Hundredth Man'. He is married with two children.

Customer Reviews

Very enjoyable - totally engrossing
I LOVED this book! It kept me well and truly entertained whilst i was working backstage during Oklahoma - a production in which teh backstage crew had very little to do, and so a very long time to read!!! Although the first book that I have read by this author, it will certainly not be the last - in fact, i have already ordered more.

The plot was well developed and intriguing, with well written and well established characters. The whole concept of a police officer with a serial killer as a brother was fascinating - and although the twist at the end was not unpredictable, it was wsell written.

The reason why i pulled it down to a 4 (although really it is more of a 4 1/2) is because some of the scenes are VERY bloodthirsty, requiring a strong stomach to read!

However, if you enjoy thrillers, you will enjoy this one.

It should appeal to readers of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs amongst others.

Best yet
It seems we've waited for ever for the release of Jack Kerley's fourth Carson Ryder novel. And it was worth waiting for. For once, I really couldn't put the book down.

I think this is the best of the four. For newcomers, I would certainly recommend starting with number one in the series, simply because each book is an exciting journey. However, such is the author's skill, a first-timer could read this book and not have to rely on the earlier books in order to understand the background.

For those of us who've eagerly awaited Blood Brother, the story moves so quickly, there are no wasted pages on detail which hardly matters. Carson is in New York, Harry Nautilus remains in Mobile and yet they still work as a great team in tracking down the psychopathic brother. This inevitably puts Carson's new-found love interest in great danger.

Thankfully, all is not what it seems with the author managing to create several twists and turns which, for me certainly, were not quite what I expected.

It is a very well constructed story. The tension remains high, the main characters are developed further and, although the body count rises, it seems the number of other potential psychos out there just seems to keep on growing too!

The sadness now is that I have to wait for ages for number five!

Gripping, Taut and Tense- Kerley goes from strength to strength
Jack Kerley's Carson Ryder series are a smart, taut and compelling set of novels with great characterisation and range of technique beyond the usual budget crime gore. Carson is an Alabama cop who specialises in analysing the twisted psyches of criminals in order to catch them, aided by his equally sharp if nattily dressed partner Harry Nautilus. The characters in these novels are warm, relatable and feel very realistic; in particular I love the relationship between Harry and Carson, so I was a little disappointed that by necessity the two men are kept apart for this unique case, as Carson is summoned to hunt another psychopath for the NYPD whilst Harry runs down the leads in Mobile, Alabama.

Blood Brother is by no means a stand alone book, and to read it as such will leave the reader infinitely poorer, so it's best to start in the beginning with The Hundredth Man (if this is your introduction to Carson) if nothing else revisiting the first novel will show just how much Kerley's prose has sharpened. The relationship between Carson and Jeremy grows more complex in this installment as Jeremy, Carson's psychopath brother has managed to engineer his own escape and is running loose on the streets of NY. Carson has a moral duty to apprehend Jeremy but we also learn more about his guilt that Jeremy's twisted beginnings had root in saving Carson.

If I had one complaint about Blood Brother it would be that Jeremy and Carson's relationship is explored perhaps a little too much, and in the process Jeremy becomes more understandable but also loses some of the edginess that made him so unique. I also wish that Kerley would crack and find Carson a nice girl to settle down with as the revolving door of girlfriends met on the job, is just a tad too James Bond for me!