Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Skin Gods by Richard Montanari - Available

The Skin Gods

A Novel of Suspense

#2 in series

by Richard Montanari
Scott Brick
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
With the breakneck pacing and intricate plotting of his most recent novel, The Rosary Girls, Richard Montanari established himself as one of the most exciting suspense writers working today. Now he proves himself a virtuoso with The Skin Gods, an explosive new thriller featuring Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano.
It is the steaming heart of summer in the City of Brotherly Love. Back on the force after taking a bullet during the arrest of a sadistic murderer, Detective Kevin Byrne warily returns to police headquarters. He cannot shake the memory of the Rosary Killer’s innocent victims–or his growing sense that the evil has not been vanquished. And when he and his partner, Detective Jessica Balzano, are called in on a bizarre case, Byrne’s gravest suspicions are confirmed.
A madman, dubbed The Actor by the homicide unit, is meticulously re-creating Hollywood’s most famous–and most gruesome–death scenes. The first murder is caught on film, spliced into a rented VHS edition of the Hitchcock black-and-white masterpiece Psycho. But in place of Janet Leigh is a real-life woman, and this time, the blood is red and the knife is real. Soon, more thrilling classics are turned into terrifying snuff films and placed on video store shelves for an unsuspecting public to find.
The key to this horrific puzzle could lie with any of The Skin Gods’ supporting cast: the A-list Hollywood director, the ruthless executive assistant, the convicted mass murderer–or perhaps someone else who has made a sinister art of gruesome violence.
Hot on the psychopath’s trail, Balzano and Byrne descend into the mouth of madness and beyond, deep into the depraved underworld of S&M clubs and the porn industry, where the worship of flesh leads to malevolent evil. Before the final credits roll, the investigators will discover that none of The Actor’s victims are as innocent as they appear to be, and that the clue the police need to prevent future murders might be found in Detective Byrne’s own dark past.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Kevin Byrne & Jessica Balzano

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 14, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739305140
      • File size: 382286 KB
      • Duration: 13:16:25

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Philadelphia is being menaced by a serial killer who recreates-and films-classic movie murders, splicing them into VHS tapes and placing them on local video shelves. Montanari knows his movies, and figuring out which movie is being reenacted is as intriguing as Detectives Byrne and Balzano's search for the madman. Scott Brick's deep, ominous tones make the psycho-killer's first-person descriptions of the grisly murders bone-chilling. As the body count rises, so does Brick's intensity. He is especially convincing as the detectives deal with their own personal demons. Montanari's excellent new thriller and Scott Brick's performance make this a special treat for movie fans-and anyone else who loves a mystery that gets the adrenaline pumping. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 14, 2005
      In this high-body-count chiller from the author of The Rosary Girls
      , Philadelphia homicide detectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are up against a savagely inventive serial killer with a yen for stomach-churning cinema verité. Copycat murders modeled on Psycho
      , Fatal Attraction
      and other movies are terrorizing the city, as the "auteur" slayer splices film of his bloody re-enactments into rental videos surreptitiously stolen from and then returned to video stores. Byrne, recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound and swallowing Vicodin like candy, is working half time, so it's up to his eager partner, Balzano, to take the lead in the investigation. Montanari's short, punchy chapters propel the convoluted—and kinky—plot, which caroms between the big-budget movie sets of a Philadelphia filmmaker made good and an underground porn industry where good girls go bad. Several potential perpetrators rear their creepy heads, but the real killer comes out of left field—though readers very attentive to scattered clues won't be too taken aback by the gory denouement. Byrne's awkward relationship with his deaf teenage daughter, Colleen, after his divorce, and Balzano's concern for her precocious three-year-old daughter, Sophie, after she boots her philandering husband (and fellow cop) out of the house, add welcome humanity to a grisly, atmospheric thriller.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading