Taker of Lives: A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller

What if there was someone out there who could take everything from you - your physical and mental health, your relationships with family and friends, and your current and future employment opportunities? Imagine yourself as a young and vivacious female, extremely good looking, very popular both locally and on social media, and living the good life doing what you do best. But there's someone out there watching you, and others like you, jealous of every aspect of your life, both eager and willing to take away all that you have. That is the premise of this latest novel in the Tess Winnett series by Leslie Wolfe.

Ms. Wolfe has carved a very solid niche for herself in the thriller world of serial killers. The characters are believable, her descriptive prose accurate without being wordy, her narrative powerful yet often humorous at the same time. However it's the sense of realism that really sets this author apart from her peers. Ms. Wolfe obviously keeps up on the developing trends and technologies currently used to solve violent crimes, from human profiling to data mining, and melding "old school" detective work with new technology offering advancements in clarification and prediction. You don't discover these tools by having a nightly drink on your lanai while gazing at the sea. There is simply no substitute for good old fashioned research, and it shows in her work. My guess is that she enjoys her research into new crime solving tools almost as much as crafting the stories based on it.

If you are interested in the two basic types of serial killers and how local and federal authorities approach and carry out their investigations, this latest novel by Leslie Wolfe should be on your bedside table - or on the airplane with you, on a park bench, or at the beach. Of course my favorite spot is hidden away from others (who might disturb me) with a comfortable chair and a good reading light. All of the requirements for a great read are met here. This novel is intense and interesting, you are rapidly pulled into the story, it is powerful and humorous, and I learned several new things. While it certainly doesn't resemble a textbook in any shape or form, it does present accurate and meaningful facts and figures that help you understand this special kind of criminal.

Christina. a nightmare, so real, was it from low blood sugar, not eating enough, she was twenty four, the last edge of being a wanted model.To take a shower and notice the uneven buttons, the nightmare was real.
Special Agent Tess.and Detective Fradella, a friend, who was a friend or what ever she allowed him to be. Gets a call, a suicide they say, full bottles of pills, this person wanted to die. High end security, engaged,doesn’t add up to suicide, Tess feels. The parents finally tell her, what happened the night before, and in their own home. The fiancé was out of town, she had called, when she told him, he broke it off. The murder was planned vengeful and targeted. This story was so real you felt you knew the people, the plot flowed, as you try to grasp the horror, of who this invader was. He is known as “The Taker of Lives”. Riveting, compelling one to read, to the end, you have questions, wanting answers, will he be stopped. I thought this was the best that Leslie has written.

Tess Winnett, FBI Special Agent with some baggage in her past, stumbles across another serial killer when she notices that there's something off about a famous model's suicide. As it turns out, she committed suicide after someone leaked indecent photos on the internet, photos taken without her knowledge in her own bedroom.

Now, I don't think I'd necessarily commit suicide over something like that, but I suppose some people might, especially if it had the potential to totally undo their career. However, it is the initial step in a climactic build-up planned by the killer, whose use of the internet to make the assault public instead of private does add a layer of seedy creepiness to the crimes. However, for this killer's purposes publicly humiliating the victim makes sense.

And that's what sets this killer apart from many others: Driven by a disdain for our celebrity culture, the killer aims to pop our safe little bubble and reveal the pointlessness of our culture. The killer's critiques are cogent and perceptive, which sometimes had me nodding along during the short interspersed chapters of self-revelation, until the logic of the critique would jump the rails and call for public human sacrifice. Leslie Wolfe has created a standout villain in this intelligent, brilliant-if-it-were-not-for-the-psycho-stuff Taker of Lives.

As for Tess Winnett, I enjoyed how her interactions with Michowsky and Fradella are slowly growing in depth and camaraderie. I didn't much enjoy her being less in control of herself, but even that aspect fit her frustration with a killer that's calling the shots and directing the show from the first scene on. On top of that, Leslie Wolfe does a great job of leaving most of the gore and violence to our imagination and while some salty language pops up, it's pretty thinly spread, which at least to me makes the experience more pleasurable.

Taker of Lives is a well-written thriller with a smart killer and smart heroine that should appeal to readers that enjoy fast-paced action and plenty of suspense, and don't mind the dissonant feeling of having the evildoer offer astute social critique.

I am a veteran of the criminal justice system, although I admit to having encountered only one suspect we considered a possible serial killer. I have worked federal agents from several agencies, from the FBI to NCIS. I tend to be critical of crime novels, and was impressed that this one was reasonably accurate. I have met and spoken with members of hte Behavior Unit, and privately most acknowledge profiling as a valuable took, but not the ultimate answer. The novel, in my opinion, presented the feds as a little bit better than they are. The writing was quite good and I would read another in this series, but I would hope for a little more realism. We in the California desert during the height of the Raves culture had to learn the forensics of and Rohipnol and GHB, and I have a very hard time with the methods of home invasion used by the perpetrator in the novel. I also had the answer figure out spot on, but then, I was no stranger to homicide or sexual assault.

Leslie Wolfe's latest thriller follows FBI Profiler Tess Winnett over a two day period as she and detectives Fradella and Michowsky track a serial killer. Leslie's storytelling skills left me feeling that I was on a ride along with these three investigators and deeply engaged in the hunt for this serial killer, and at times I could swear I was on a very violent rollercoaster ride with no end to the twists and turns.
If you like books that grab you and don't let go until you have read that final page, Taker of Lives should be on your list of books to read.

I really enjoy the author's writing style and the subject matter she invokes in this series. The strong authoritative female in a male dominated field who is not afraid to buck the system, but is smart enough to accept the help of her male counterparts. Ms. Wolfe's books are intriguing, mildly complex, thoroughly interesting and always a clean days read.