Review: Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner

Title: Into the Black Nowhere

Author: Meg Gardiner

Series: UNSUB, #2

Published: January 2018, Dutton

Format: Hardcover, 368 pages

Source: Personal copy

Summary:
Inspired by real-life serial killer Ted Bundy, an exhilarating thriller in which FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix faces off against a charming, merciless serial killerIn southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another is ripped from her car at a stoplight. Another vanishes from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.

Caitlin and the FBI’s serial crime unit discover
the first victim’s body in the woods. She’s laid out in a bloodstained,
white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies
deeper in the forest’s darkness. Both bodies are surrounded by Polaroid
photos, stuck in the earth like headstones. Each photo pictures a woman
in a white negligee, wrists slashed, suicide-style–posed like Snow
White awaiting her prince’s kiss.

To track the UNSUB, Caitlin
must get inside his mind. How is he selecting these women? Working with a
legendary FBI profiler, Caitlin searches for a homology–that
elusive point where character and action come together. She profiles a
confident, meticulous killer who convinces his victims to lower their
guard until he can overpower and take them in plain sight. He then
reduces them to objects in a twisted fantasy–dolls for him to possess,
control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin’s profile leads the FBI to
focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily
gains people’s trust. But with only circumstantial evidence linking him
to the murders, the police allow him to escape. As Saturday night
approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse,
racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims more victims.

My thoughts: This is the second book in Meg Gardiner’s UNSUB series and as much as I loved the first book, I think I loved this one even more. I am so glad I am finally reading this series…better late than never, right?

Once again, this book is nonstop action right from the get-go and I found myself completely engaged from page one. I could not read this fast enough and I loved that we have two dynamic female leads here. I love Caitlin, but I loved Rainey just as much and I hope this isn’t the last we see of her.

I loved that this is different from the previous book. It’s not the same cut and paste formula and I so appreciate that. The only thing that is the same is that this case, like the last one, is inspired by a real-life serial killer, which I love. I may not be on top of all the serial killers, as I’m just getting into reading true crime, but these books sure are intense and they do a great job of making sure you keep all the lights on when you read them!

I also loved that we find out who the killer is pretty early on and from there, it’s a non-stop race in trying to get one-step ahead of him before he spirals out of control. He’s cunning and devious, but he knows his time is limited. It makes for some heart-pounding reading but we also don’t really know the why and I needed to know that. 

This book was so addicting and kept me on the edge of me seat the entire time. And it all leads to an ending that sets up for the next book, which I’m hoping to read sooner rather than later. I love this series and if you love dark, gripping reads, I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t already!

Books in this series:

1. UNSUB
2. Into the Black Nowhere
3. The Dark Corners of the Night