Chris Carter, the author, should not be confused with Chris Carter, television producer who brought you the likes of The X Files and Millenium. Indeed, this opening paragraph – before I did my research (ie. typed his name into Google) – opened with the fact I was a fan of his television work. So… oops.

The Caller
by Chris Carter
Series: Robert Hunter #8
Published by Simon & Schuster Australia
on March 1st 2017
Source: NetGalley, Simon & Schuster
Genres: Thriller / Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Police Procedural
ISBN: 1471156311, 9781471156311
Pages: 471

Goodreads

After a tough week, Tanya Kaitlin is looking forward to a relaxing night in, but as she steps out of her shower, she hears her phone ring. The video call request comes from her best friend, Karen Ward. Tanya takes the call and the nightmare begins.

Karen is gagged and bound to a chair in her own living room. If Tanya disconnects from the call, if she looks away from the camera, he will come after her next, the deep, raspy, demonic voice at the other end of the line promises her.

As Hunter and Garcia investigate the threats, they are thrown into a rollercoaster of evil, chasing a predator who scouts the streets and social media networks for victims, taunting them with secret messages and feeding on their fear.

Apparently I’ve read the second book in this series (cos Goodreads tells me so) but I couldn’t remember it or Detective Robert Hunter, and I’m surprised as I most certainly am a convert after this book.

The premise itself was enough to get me in – though the deaths inflicted on the recipients of he-with-the-demonic-voice (and mask!) is a tad gruesome. I read a lot of books about serial killers and on those occasions I try to imagine victims’ last minutes I find it just too overwhelming.

But enough reality… back to the land of fiction where the baddies exist on the page and nowhere else.

I loved most of this book. I really liked Hunter, and Carter introduced us to the victims and their friends / family prior to their deaths, so offers some great character development.

My one grumble (dropping it from a 4-star read to 3.5 stars) is that he doesn’t really give us a fair playing field when it comes to working out whodunnit. I’ve mentioned before I dislike knowing who the baddie is from the get-go and thankfully Carter doesn’t go there. He gives us a few suspects (and I was sure I’d picked it… but was wrong!); so their identity and motivation is revealed at the end but… I didn’t really think we were given the tools to work it out. Although frighteningly, maybe that was just me?!

I’d love to go back and read more of this series now as I’m intrigued by Hunter. We didn’t see a lot of his abilities here (given his hefty background in psychology and profiling) so I’m keen for more.

The Caller by Chris Carter was published in Australia by Simon & Schuster and is now available.

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