I very much enjoyed Chris Carter’s 2017 book, The Caller. It was certainly creepy however and not for the faint of heart. His latest, Gallery of the Dead, is very much the same though probably gets a little less macabre after the first (rather gory) murder.

The Gallery of the Dead
by Chris Carter
Series: Robert Hunter #9
Published by Simon & Schuster Ltd
on February 28th 2018
Genres: Thriller / Suspense
ISBN: 1471156346, 9781471156342
Pages: 500

Goodreads

‘Thirty-seven years in the force, and if I was allowed to choose just one thing to erase from my mind, what’s inside that room would be it.’

That’s what a LAPD Lieutenant tells Detectives Hunter and Garcia of the Ultra Violent Crimes Unit as they arrive at one of the most shocking crime scenes they have ever attended.

In a completely unexpected turn of events, the detectives find themselves joining forces with the FBI to track down a serial killer whose hunting ground sees no borders; a psychopath who loves what he does because to him murder is much more than just killing – it’s an art form.

I met Detective Robert Hunter in The Caller and felt it didn’t really give him a chance to flex his (apparently amazingly-insightful) crime-solving-from-left-field muscles.

Hunter’s given a lead role here, though I was also impressed with his partner Carlos Garcia and the FBI agents with whom they’re forced to work.

Hunter’s widely-read with a deductive and whip-smart mind and an ability to think outside the box. His (and author Chris Carter’s) background in psychology means they’re both well placed to ensure we’re privy to the psychopathy of the baddie in question.

(Like in The Caller, and perhaps all of Carter’s books) we get to know the victims (a smidge) before they disappear off this mortal coil. And again it’s confronting. I mean, it’d be far easier if they were revolting human beings. But alas…. (and let’s not even think about the cat!) #longstory #spoiler

We’re also intermittently in the mind of the killer, though not given a lot of insight until our law-enforcers understand him themselves.

These books aren’t really about the ‘whodunnit’ and instead about the twisted minds of mice and men. Well, men. No mice were harmed in the writing or reading of this book. Unlike the cat. (Oops, sorry, spoiler again!)

I very much enjoyed this book. Carter again offers us clever and creepy crimes. Another book blogging friend said she almost had to put the book aside a few times, unsure she could continue. I’m not particularly visual (more of an auditory thinker) and it probably helps given my passion for crime fiction and thrillers. Best I don’t have certain pictures in my head.

I liked that Carter puts the detectives’ and FBI agents’ fallibility on display here as they ‘kinda’ get it wrong once or twice. After all, it makes sense to leap to the wrong conclusions when you’re trying to rationalise twisted minds.

Like my experience with Carter (and Hunter et al) previously I was a tad disappointed with the ending. There’s an unexpected twist, but then things rush to a bit of a climax… and we really only learn some interesting stuff about our killer after it’s all done and dusted.

This is hard to put down however, and my increased appreciation of Hunter this time around, has made me awfully keen to go back and read more in this series – though I said that after The Caller and am yet to do so. (I only wish my TBR pile wasn’t already toppling over!)

Gallery of the Dead by Chris Carter was published in Australia by Simon & Schuster and now available.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.