The King by Steven James, a Mysterious Review.

Review: After spending much of his career in the field dealing with the most sadistic crimes one can imagine, FBI criminologist Patrick Bowers is ready to settle down to a new life: a job where he will be teaching his geospatial investigative approach to solving crimes, an upcoming marriage to fellow agent Lien-hua, and continuing to raise Tessa, his step-daughter, who has finally agreed to drop the "step". Tessa is actually thrilled that Patrick and Lien-hua are getting married and Tessa will have a mother again. They all are looking forward to a happy home life … until one of Bower's past adversaries, Richard Basque, attacks Lien-hua, almost killing her. She fought back and was able to get a bullet in his body, but not a fatal one. Basque had been captured and arrested by Bowers almost twenty years before. He not only killed people, he dissected them and sliced out parts of their bodies to eat while they were still alive. He was sentenced to life in prison, but due to controversial forensic evidence and conflicting eye witness testimony he only served seventeen years of his sentence. He wanted to destroy Bowers, and what better way than cannibalizing and killing his soon to be wife and his daughter. He wanted them both and made no secret of it. Bowers knew Basque would be hard to find again, but he would not give up until Basque was apprehended … or dead in The King, the sixth thriller in this series by Steven James.

As strong as the primary storyline is in this novel, there is a separate, equally exciting and gripping story involving questionable suicides and counterfeit medicines, international conspiracy and terrorism, courtesy of another sociopath from Bower's past. The characters are well-developed and credibly drawn, with Bowers struggling — and now achieving — to rebuild his family while creepy and chilling killers stand in his way. This is a terrific and eminently readable action thriller that focuses on characters and the story and does not rely on the coarse language that (unnecessarily) peppers so many other books.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The King.

Placebo
Revell (Trade Paperback), November 2012
ISBN-13: 9780800734251; ISBN-10: 0800734254

Every Crooked Path
Signet Select (Mass Market Paperback), December 2015
ISBN-13: 9780451467355; ISBN-10: 0451467353

The King

A Patrick Bowers Mystery by Steven James