The Screaming Room
A John Driscoll Mystery
Thomas O'Callaghan
Pinnacle (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-7860-1812-7 (0786018127)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-1812-3 (9780786018123)
Publication Date: May 2007
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): John Driscoll has laid the ghosts of his past to rest.
He's ready to start over—both personally and as a New York City
homicide detective. But it seems that a serial killer has other plans
for Driscoll.
The victims' bodies are found, brutally mutilated and carefully
arranged. Someone has displayed the corpses for the world to see-on a
Ferris wheel, in a dinosaur dinorama, on a bridge-grotesque visions to
all except for the depraved killer, who considers them masterpieces.
These blood rituals spell out a message to Driscoll. And they are just
the beginning ...
Driscoll's investigation will lead him down the darkest of journeys,
toward an evil beyond his worst nightmares. In a hellish landscape
conceived by the all-too-clever mind of a twisted schemer, Driscoll
must play a killer's deadly game. It's up to him to save his city-or
die trying.
Review: The Screaming Room is Thomas O'Callaghan's second mystery to feature NYPD homicide detective John Driscoll.
A serial killer seems to be indiscriminately murdering men and women,
scalping them, and artfully arranging the bodies in and around New York
City. The victims' only connection to each other seems to be they were
all tourists, visitors to the city. NYPD homicide detective John
Driscoll, assigned to the case, doggedly pursues what few clues they
have but gets drawn into a political battle when one of the victims
turns out to be the daughter of a powerful west coast family who not
only want justice but revenge.
The Screaming Room is,
for the most part, a police procedural since the killer (actually,
killers, a pair of rare genetically identical male and female twins) is
identified in the opening chapters of the book. Driscoll employs his
resources effectively, quickly determining that there are two killers,
twins in their mid-teens, who are independently but in concert killing
people in and around the city that they met over the internet.
Following him track them down is, in and of itself, rather interesting.
The primary problem here is that though the pacing of the narrative is
rapid, the writing is uninspired, failing to generate any genuine
suspense. There are more than a few instances where the plot strains
credulity. In addition, the novelty of the twins' situation and how
they relate to each other quickly wears thin. While the twins'
motivation for the murders is predictable and their choice of who to
kill is somewhat surprising, there is ultimately no sympathy for either
the twins or their victims (other than the obvious fact that they were
murdered). The subplot involving the wealthy father of one of the
victims, no doubt intended to add an element of conflict and
apprehension, completely falls flat.
Driscoll and his team, especially the resourceful Cedric Thomlinson and
the enigmatic Margaret Aligante, make for a compelling investigative
unit; they deserve a better story than the one in The Screaming Room.
Special thanks to FSB Associates for providing a copy of The Screaming Room for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
The Bone Thief
Pinnacle (Mass Market Paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 0-7860-1811-9 (0786018119)
The Screaming Room
Pinnacle (Mass Market Paperback), 2007
ISBN-10: 0-7860-1812-7 (0786018127)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-1812-3 (9780786018123)
Omnimystery keywords for The Screaming Room ...
Location(s) referenced: New York City.
