The Kill Switch

by James Riordan, Andrew Dahlmaine

Franklin has more than one secret-if possible, the second more hideous than the first. As a serial killer who murders young prostitutes in particularly gruesome ways, Franklin also works with a friend, who helps covers his tracks. The only compensation required from his friend is watching the killings . . . and taking a few pictures that he shares with a couple of his friends. In turn, those friends share their pictures and stories of other murders, creating a horrific network of murder used as entertainment. Detective Carl Peterson's first mistake in being assigned to the Kankakee serial killer case is thinking that he's simply looking for a serial killer . . . acting alone. When Carl seeks help from his computer statistician girlfriend, Laurie, she discovers that various murders in four different states have similarities that can't be ignored. Carl teams up with FBI profiler Bob Rathburn, and together they track down the killer. But then, the murders continue . . . And the more Carl discovers, the more the unthinkable connections become a staggering reality.

229 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2013

About the author

Riōdan, Jeimuzu 1936-2012
Riordan, Dž.
Riordan, Džejms.
Riordan, James
Riordan, James William 1936-2012
Riordan, Jim, 1936-2012

James Riordan (10 October 1936 – 10 February 2012) was an English novelist, broadcaster, sports historian, association football player and Russian scholar.

Well known for his work Sport in Soviet Society, the first academic look at sport in the Soviet Union, and for his children's novels.

Reviews

[David Jarecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Kill Switch” is not your average policeman chasing a serial killer novel. Though it may seem to be that at the start of the book it doesn’t take long for the reader to realize that there is much more than that to the tale. To say that the movement of the story “peels back the onion” to reveal many layers would be an understatement.
The opening chapters set us up in a world where prostitutes are being murdered and a lonely police detective becomes deeply invested in trying to find the killer. Conventional enough right? Are we reading “Jack the Ripper vs. Stereotype Lonely Cop”?
The answer to this is a resounding “NO”.
Some of the greatest works start out within the framework of a familiar format or with what seem like template characters and then take the genre to another level. “The Kill Switch” does this throughout its 230 pages.
The killer is not only not a “Jack the Ripper” clone, he may actually not even be a “he” or “one”. The path of discovery about who the killer is and how multiple people and a widespread philosophy may be involved is wonderfully orchestrated.
And as far as the book’s protagonist (Kankakee, IL Police detective Carl Peterson) he doesn’t remain the lonely detective very long. At a party he meets a statistician named Laurie. Their relationship starts out seeming like a side tale for character development. But throughout the course of the novel it methodically ends up tying directly into the murders in an interesting way. I’d go so far as to say that the nuances of the start of their relationship were as interesting (if not more interesting) than the murder plotline. Moments of Carl documenting his early issues on dates with Laurie as vigorously as he documents details of the murder and how he slowly learns about Laurie’s mood swings are absolutely golden.
About halfway through the book I started thinking that “The Kill Switch” was falling into another convention--the “Whodunnit?”. I found myself starting to rotate my mind about many different characters and wondering if they were the one behind what was going on. Then I realized that it was pointless for me to be thinking that way for many reasons. The last half of the book was dizzying—especially the last 50 or so pages. But it was dizzying in a fun way—a way that that keeps taking the story to new levels…..a way that takes characters and plotlines from earlier in the book and brings them back into the fold in interesting ways.
“The Kill Switch” truly peels the onion back on a unique serial killer hunt that keeps the reader on its toes. Riordan and Dahlmaine offer a reality grounded tale that delves deep into the genre and comes up with something wonderfully fresh—a yarn that takes twists and turns that are not taken just for the sake of twists and turns. In fact…with the reveal at the very end of the book I found myself thinking about the next book. I can see “The Kill Switch” being the first book in a great detective/ crime novel series.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/14/14 Update - it's funny when you realize you picked the wrong book with the same name to read. Found "The Kill Switch" I meant to pick at the library today... hopefully it's better than this one was. :-)

The Kill Switch was an interesting thriller. Unfortunately for me, I can be a stickler for details and I really dislike unintelligent main characters. There were so many things the main character, Detective Carl Peterson, was ignorant about. First, since I come from an Accounting / Finance background, a statistician is not even close to an accountant... so to say that his girlfriend Laurie is an accountant, when was she really does is stats, just irritated me. And Laurie's claustrophobia - no one even knows what that means, even the author can't effectively describe it.

There were several other 'errors' in the book, but I didn't take the time to note every one. For me, the dialogue was very 'clunky' to read, and I don't understand why the author makes all the characters seems so ignorant. Overall, I felt that this was a difficult book to finish, but since I was intrigued about the ending, which was 'interesting', I give a 2.5 star rating.