Deadly Laws
by Jim Michael Hansen
Published by Dark Sky Publishing, Inc.
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Reviewed by Andrea Sisco
Deadly Laws is the fourth title in Jim Michael Hansen’s scintillating Laws series.
Denver homicide detective Bryson Coventry has been called to a railroad yard to investigate a shooting death. He found more than just a man’s body. There was evidence that an unknown person had been held captive (by a dog collar) and escaped from the boxcar where the murder victim had been found.
Third-year law student Kayla Beck receives a chilling telephone call. A man challenges her to a game: follow his directions and save a woman’s life, or ignore the call and the woman dies. Kayla believes the caller and follows his directions. She came upon Aspen, tied up in the boxcar, as she was being raped.
Kayla helps Aspen escape and is told a chilling tale of a serial killer that involves seemingly random citizens in his maniacal game of death. And if the ‘helper’ doesn’t help him, they eventually become the targets.
Coventry, Aspen and Beck are after the killer and once again, Hansen neatly intersects the stories of the victims and the police. The women are the hunted, but are determined to control their own fate and become the hunters. Their investigation parallels the police’s.
Deadly Laws is a thriller that won’t let the reader shake the terror of the story. Long after you close the book, you’ll be looking over your shoulder, wondering if you’re in the ‘crosshairs’ of a nameless, faceless, monster who is only interested in the thrill of torture and murder—yours.
Hansen’s plots are masterful and terrifying because they could be real life. His characters are rich, multi-dimensional and deeply flawed. Sometimes you love them and sometimes you don’t.
My only criticisms of Deadly Laws are Det. Bryson Coventry’s ‘skirt chasing’ comes off as juvenile and unprofessional. It makes him less likeable than in the previous books in the series. Hansen also litters the landscape (in all of his books) with what I feel is too much gratuitous sex. Toning it down would add to the richness of the story.
Armchair Interviews says: Deadly Laws, while flawed, is a page-turner that leaves you scared, wary of strangers and breathless.