Teenage killers at large
583349
Three teenage killers who vision themselves a modern Bonnie and Clyde team go on a murdering rampage in Minnesota.

Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Criminal Investigation team is called by his boss, Lucas Davenport, to take on the investigation.

Virgil is just back from a vacation in a tropical area and wishes he didn't have to return to work so soon but Lucas tells him he's the best and he's needed.

There is senseless violence with these killers but Virgil's down home approach to investing makes the book entertaining.
4938686
In Four Tombstones, the first book in the Josie Jameson mystery series, four teenagers rub the headstones of four graves on Halloween night. Their leader, fourteen year-old Josie Jameson, wants to connect with her long-deceased motherand she does so in atmospheric passages that made goosebumps erupt on this readers skin. Teenagers will recognize themselves and their friends in this novels characters. Older readers will remember the insecurity of adolescence and the importance of a few loyal friends. Mrs. Hotes clearly understands the self-doubt, need to belong, and drive for independence inherent in teenagers. Her four teens are believable, likable, and wonderfully flawed.

Four Tombstones delivers a spine-tingling and hair-raising narrative along with a story of the bumpy transition from childhood to adulthood, the dysfunction in every family, and the utter necessity of friends to get us through.
3539144
What do you get when you mix horomone driven teenagers, an internet chat room, right-wing Christian fanatics, and a local Planned Parenthood Clinic?  A fast paced, compelling read that reflects the issues of today's society with characters realistically drawn.  You've read or heard about most of these people in your local/state/national news.  Now you meet them in more depth in this great series - you get to see the motivation behind their actions and the complexity of the consequences of all their actions.

Kera Kollmorgan, nurse at a Planned Parenthood Clinic, treats a young teenage girl for genital warts.  After the girl leaves, the clinic is bombed and before the dust has time to settle, the young girl's nude body is found in the dumpster of a nearby apartment building.

Detective Wade Jackson is shocked when he recognizes the young girl as the ex-best friend of his 14 year old daughter, Kate.  Kate and Jessie had been best friends through Middle School, both attending Teen Talk ( a Christian teen group that met every Wednesday night at the pastor's home), until they had abruptly severed their ties and Kate had quit attending the Wednesday group.  She had always refused to explain to her father what had happened.

Kera, on the other hand, is also appalled to read that the young girl she had treated has turned up dead.  She had been shocked and concerned when she had talked with the young girl to find that the girl was not only sexually active but had an older lover.  Now she is conflicted with wanting to help the police but having to stay within the constraints of patient privacy.

Add to that a person who believes that God is directing him/her to personally avenge all the aborted babies by blowing up the Planned Parenthood Clinics and the evil persons who are subverting innocent teenagers and killing unborn babies..and you don't want to put this book down.

Soon another young girl from Teen Talk is found dead and Kera finds herself the personal target of the bomber.

And just as you think it can't get any more suspenseful, throw in a high ranking politician and the twists and turns get as complicated as a Celtic Knot puzzle.
177643
Throngs of hysterical shoppers. Public bathrooms overflowing with human filth. Teenagers running wild and free. Yup, it's just another day at the Westchester "CommerceDome" - until an unwitting teenager discovers a biological bomb strapped to the mall's HVAC system.

Between MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, The Uglies, the Tankborn trilogy, Mortal Instruments, and The Hybrid Chronicles (etc., etc., etc.), NO SAFETY IN NUMBERS wasn't even on my YA radar - that is, until I won the follow-up, NO EASY WAY OUT, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. At the time I requested it, I'd somehow managed to overlook the fact that it's a sequel - and, not wanting to jump in mid-story, I decided to pick up NO SAFETY IN NUMBERS asap. I found myself pleasantly surprised: set in a rather mundane (even hated) locale (ugh, I shudder to think of the arduous task that was gift shopping, pre-Internet!), NO SAFETY is un-put down-able.

Upon the discovery of the bioweapon, the mall's immediately placed on lockdown; the occupants, quarantined indefinitely. The feds cut the land lines, jam the cell signals, and even block news channels inside the mall to keep everyone - both the captives within and concerned friends and family without - from communicating. The story follows four teens as they try to navigate this terrifying new world: exposing cover-ups, caring for the sick, and attempting escape. Stories told from alternating perspectives can sometimes take great effort to follow, but each teen and his or her voice is unique enough that they're immediately distinguishable.

The cast of characters is remarkably diverse (as most casts should be): Marco, a busboy at the Grill'n'Shake, is a lanky, sarcastic, enterprising kid of Costa Rican descent; Lexi (short for Alexandra), is a wealthy yet socially isolated computer geek of color whose mother just so happens to be The Senator (though it's unclear whether she serves in the state or federal government); and Shay (Shaila), a second-generation native born American, who shares with her elderly Indian grandmother a love of poetry (Tagore) and henna. The only white dude in the bunch is Ryan, the younger brother of a star high school football player who feels torn between his oftentimes cruel older teammates Mike and Drew (and the protection they provide) - and the other survivors, who are at times among Mike and Drew's victims.

Bullies Mike and Drew are sometimes drawn like caricatures (think of Emilio Estevez and his jock buddies in THE BREAKFAST CLUB, taping a nerd's buttocks together for s*** and giggles - but worse, and murderously so), and Marco takes an unfortunate detour into "Nice Guy" territory, but otherwise the characters are all interesting enough to hold my attention - and believable enough to lend credibility to the story. Doubly so: the uncaring government bureaucrats.

Told over the course of one week, NO SAFETY IN NUMBERS is tense and action-packed - a great summer read. Additionally, author Dayna Lorentz touches upon issues of race, class, and gender, throwing in the alienation so common to the teen years for extra emotional punch. The result is a highly readable dystopia: imagine THE LORD OF THE FLIES moved into The Apple Store. (Or maybe you don't have to imagine, if ever you've stood in line for the latest iPhone release.)
1576672
This book was even better than I expected it to be. A fairly quick read, it explores the thought process of a teenage killer, who has a fixation on girls whom he percieves to be out of his reach . It loses a star for not giving a little bit more detail at the end about what became of the parents, who, unbeknownst to them, shared a house with this creepy guy.
469128
Jack Rosewood opens a new door to reveal more of his expertise on his ongoing research and writing about true crime. He has created a new series  SERIAL KILLERS OF THE WORLD  and Book 1 is THE COLOMBIAN MONSTERS. As one who has read all of Jacks books it is with eagerness that this new series is approached. For those new to his prowess, Florida author Jack Rosewood comes by his obsession for heinous crimes from his father, a journalist covering major grim crimes. He is fascinated with serial killers  their development psychologically, their preparation for their life of crime, and the details of how they made their bloody black marks on the world. The movie star handsome Rosewood lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife and two children. And now on to this exciting (if heinously terrifying) book 1 of the serial killers outside the USA!

Preparing for his new examination of the diabolical history and psychopathology of these new SERIAL KILLERS Jack offers a fine Introduction. Considering that one of the most diabolical of all executioner calling cards is the Colombian necktie  a post-mortem mutilation in which the victims throat is sliced open so his or her tongue can be pulled through as if it were a tie  it should come as no surprise that the worlds top three most prolific serial killers come from the nation best known for this demented mutilation. The three men who have set records for their kills each targeted children, using various tricks to lure them away from safety, including candy, money, and various disguises. And while it is unfathomable that together these three men are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 500 children, what is even more impossible to believe is that the punishments in no way fit their crimes. None received life sentences  in Colombia, prison terms at the time were limited to 40 years - and together, the meager punishments doled out to them equaled less than 100 years. Each took advantage of the regions poverty and political unrest to prey upon the most vulnerable members of the South American population, collecting children like some people collect Star Wars memorabilia.
 Colombia is a country with a long history of violence, said Marc Chernick, a professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. Its also a country that boasts the dubious honor of being the home of three of the worlds most notorious serial killers  Luis Garavito, Daniel Camargo Barbosa and Pedro Lopez. Each is the stuff of nightmares, and while Garavito is still behind bars and Barbosa is dead at the hands of a fellow prisoner, Lopez is free, his whereabouts unknown, making him a likely subject of many a horror story told round a campfire. The girls of Colombia and its neighboring nations Ecuador and Peru should be terrified.

To appreciate the skill of Jack Rosewood the reader must follow each of these three grizzly killers in his book. Briefly, Pedro Lopez liked hosting tea parties, with corpses as his guests. Daniel Camargo sought out virgins, and took both their virtues and their lives. Luis Garavito became sadistically violent after years of sexual abuse. In Colombia in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, these three monsters cut a swath of terror across a country already ravaged by poverty as well as the casualties of the regions powerful drug cartels.  The details of these incredibly horrid crimes must be read to believe. Jack Rosewood scores again! Grady Harp, April 16
1145190
A gripping story about a deranged killer of young girls in public places.  He baits the police but leaving cryptic messages.  the police race to catch him before he strikes again.  I liked the way the author weaves all the pieces together as the characters guess what is next.  The author tells this story through the eyes of the individual characters involved.  The terrifying ending is not what I was expecting.  I wondered how it would end without tragic results.  A good read.
3819152
I have been aware of this heinous crime for several decades, but have never read a book about its specifics.  Therefore, I am assuming this book is correct in its facts.  It is certainly an interesting read.  Two teen-agers, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, decide they are intellectually superior to anyone else, and decide to test their theory by murdering a child at random.  By the grace of God they lost track of the first boy they spotted coming home from school, and finally settled on 14 year old Bobby Franks.  One of the two murderers was playing tennis with him the day before, not knowing that Bobby would be the victim.  Clarence Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb by introducing "three wise men from the east" to cast doubt on the sanity of the defendants.  Besides the victim you really have to feel for the parents of Bobby Franks.  His mother remained in denial repeating that "Bobby will be home soon."  Several photographs are included to supplement the text.  This despicable crime took place in Chicago in 1924 during the Capone and O'Banion beer wars, and it reminds me of a similar twosome, Robert Tulloch and James Parker, of Chelsea, Vermont, who murdered two Dartmouth professors in 2001 in a thrill killing.  Both partners in crime most likely wouldn't have committed the crime without the support of the other, and both believed their intellectual superiority would prevent them from being arrested.  Both are very tragic stories.  Considering I don't have any other book on Leopold and Loeb to compare it to I would highly recommend this book.
2494071
Mutilated female bodies are turning up all over Atlanta.  Atlanta is known for its history of rape and crime but some "sicko" is creating havoc that is sending the Atlanta Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in circles as they attempt to solve the puzzles this maniac leaves and still stay sane with their normally uncooperative inter-department methods.  Grady Homes is a section of Atlanta that is deeply infested with slums and contains much of the areas crime.  Prostitutes are everywhere, some giving freebies to the police so they can maintain their business.

On the sixth floor of one of the buildings in Grady lies a young woman dead, cut up badly, raped, her tongue ripped off, and her body discarded on the stairs for all to view.  The police arrived, conducted their investigation, making their nasty comments about the body and the buildings, and the girls that are being killed doing their prostitution.  Detective Michael Ormewood arrived after the original police who had found the body.  Michael was one of the cops that liked to partake of the free women in the area.  GBI Detective Will Trent, a completely different type of cop, worked with Michael on the investigation.

Back in 1985 Mary Alice Finney had been found in the same condition as the girls in the Grady Homes section had been found in present time; mutilated, raped, and cut in many areas of their bodies.  The same two detectives had worked that case.  John Shelley had been arrested for that murder and was convicted and sent to prison.  He had a terrible time in prison being a young man that the other guys loved to force themselves on.  They made Shelley's insides look like hamburger through their constant raping of him.  Prison was not kind to Shelley who insisted he was not guilty of killing Mary Alice Finney.

In 2005 Shelley was released and found a world changed so much that he did not know how he could ever fit.  Work for ex-cons was laborious, sparse, and paid little, which is why he ended up in a car wash doing such menial work.  Located in a poor area loaded with prostitutes and working with some fellow workers, some ex-cons too, that would not let him forget his past, Shelley plodded on and got nixed up with Angie, one of the prostitutes who actually was an undercover cop.  He did not know that fact so John worked her to get information in his search for someone connected with the killing he was accused of years ago.

Karin Slaughter takes the reader on a trip through prison, recuperation from prison (if there is such a thing), and the rough life led by many in such desolate areas of crime in Atlanta.  The story contains love, both true and untrue, and you get the feelings with the words used that you are in the middle of this story trying to figure out who is the mutilator, the killer, the good guys or the bad guys.  Granted, Slaughter does not give anything away as you read until you get very deep in the book.  A very enjoyable brutal mystery-murder story.  I highly recommend it.
977432
A truly fabulous horror story. The Screaming is a horrific mystery with plenty of blood lust and violence. A deadly viral trend has spread across the ocean. It seems teens are killing their families and than committing suicide. The only thing left behind is a video and a haunting scream. An international team is assembled with some of America's finest and Britain's clandestine services are racing to find the cause so they can stop the slaughter before it's to late. I highly recommend for hard core horror fans.
1391285
The main character in this book is a young girl but the story would not be classified as YA.

This is a murder mystery serial killer who done it.

I was in 7th grade in 1976 and the author's descriptions of the young girls music and interests really took me back to those early teen years.

This is also a book about family dynamics, maybe more than even a who done it.
4734657
2016 is seeing a veritable plethora of young adult authors publishing novels intended for grownups. Jacqueline Woodson, Gayle Forman and Meg Rosoff are just a handful of authors who are writing for a more mature audience this year. Joining them is Robin Wasserman, who has written several popular and acclaimed novels for teens. In GIRLS ON FIRE, she continues to explore teenaged relationships and conflicts, but does so with a far darker tone.

GIRLS ON FIRE introduces us to high school junior Hannah Dexter, a hardworking good girl who is happy enough, she supposes, but lacks a close friend. Instead, she makes her way through high school with a handful of acquaintances, doing her best to avoid interactions with mean girl Nikki Drummond. Everyone in town is treating Nikki with kid gloves, though. After all, her boyfriend, Craig Ellison, recently killed himself.

No one can figure out why Craig, star athlete and all-around popular guy, would have gone out into the woods on the edge of town and shot himself in the head. There are plenty of theories, of course. Its the early 1990s, and recently publicity of satanic cults (not to mention the new popularity of grunge music) has the adults of the small town of Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, on high alert for the moral safety of their young people.

Meanwhile, Hannah attracts the notice of relative newcomer Lacey Champlain, whose frank talk and devil-may-care attitude appeal to the more cautious Hannah. Lacey eagerly takes Hannah on as a project, remaking her in her own image, outfitted with Doc Martens, flannel shirts and her own Nirvana tapes. She even gives Hannah a new name: Dex. Lacey and Dex embark on an intense and possibly toxic friendship, until Lacey begins to reveal secrets that might push the two girls apartor pull them even closer.

Wasserman effectively takes readers (at least those of a certain age) back to the early 90s, suffusing Dex and Laceys story with the music, fashion and cultural preoccupations of the time. The novel is narrated in sections labeled Us and Them. The Us sections are told from the points of view of Lacey and Dex, while the Them sections take readers into the minds and memories of their mothers, grown women whose own girlhoods seem both like distant memories and continued influences on their present-day lives.

GIRLS ON FIRE illustrates, at times brutally, the powerful hold teenage girls friends and friendships can exert on their beliefs, their self-image, their entire lives. Readers will waver back and forth about whether Laceys influence on Dexs life ultimately will be positive and transformative or negative, even toxic. This is a question that remains largely unanswered even at the novels close, making it ripe for ongoing contemplation and discussion.

Audiobook available; performed by Cassandra Campbell, Soneela Nankani and Allyson Ryan

Reviewed by Norah Piehl
1811934
A small town is shocked and mystified by a series of deaths.  Are they related?  Is there a killer (or killers) among them?  A 13 year old boy tries to sort out all the events happening around him and struggles with the impact upon his family.  A great book group discussion read.
14754
Although these serial killers and their stories are well known, and I'm an avid reader of true crime, I still want to give this book four solid stars. The writing was an easy, entertaining read and written so that the reader was reminded why these are the 12 worst! Oh my goodness! The cover's promise of mind-bending evil delivers.
2400103
Usually this is not the type of book I enjoy reading, I would not have made a career in Law enforcement it I  was assigned as a Juvenile officer and was limited to
Dealing with teenagers.
Most of the teenagers that require law enforcement attention are  " Know if all "
Teenage punks.
Having stated the above, this book is the exception,  it is well written and held my
Interest  thru the last page.
2948029
The story centers around the hunt for a killer who tortures young girls before he kills them and dumps the bodies. The decriptions of how the investigation starts and all the paperwork and legwork that entails were fascinating . I could almost picture the squad room with everbody working to catch this guy. I can't wait to read more by this author.
4302948
It's Halloween-- or Samhain-- in Nashville, and there's a lot more going on than trick-or-treating. Lt. Taylor Jackson has just been reinstated into her position, and before she can even head off for a celebratory drink, she gets a call that there's been a terrifically horrific crime: a dead teenager, a pentacle carved in his chest, has been found in one of Nashville's plushier neighborhoods. Things take a quick turn for the worse, as corpse upon corpse begins to turn up in rapid succession. Suddenly Taylor and her team have a mass murder on their hands. And right when they could use his psychological insights, Jackson's FBI fiance, Baldwin, has been recalled to Quantico, having to answer to charges about an old case of his that took some very bad turns in 2004. Wicca, vampirism, goth, out-of-control teenagers, drugs: the teeming underbelly of Nashville society is all here, present and accounted for, in this edge-of-your-seat, no-letup-on-action thriller. You'll be turning pages into the wee hours of the morning with this one.

Jackson is immensely real, immensely likeable. She's a very human character: she feels deeply attached to her team, bears psychological wounds from past cases, and isn't above taking an instant dislike to some people. She's brave without being reckless, passionate without being a sob sister. And the members of her team are all quite likeable, as well; they each have distinct personal traits that make them stand out one from another, so you're not constantly flipping back, saying, "which one was that again?" Baldwin, telling his story partially in flashbacks, shows himself to be deeply flawed and capable of bad judgment, and his case from the past is equally as captivating as Jackson's story from the present.

The only major problem I encountered reading this novel was that it was my first entry in the series, and it does make a lot of references to previous novels. They're generally pretty well contextualized, but, for any other reader considering jumping into this series, I'd recommend beginning at the beginning. I felt like I was missing out on a lot and may have come across a few spoilers in reading this book out of order. But, that being said, reading this book made me want to go back and read all the novels that preceded it; Jackson's world really drew me in. The people, the setting, the warped psychology, the little twist thrown in at the end-- it all added up to a great, suspenseful ride.