A Darkness Within

by Michael Kerr

The mutilated body of a teenage student is found in a wood south of the city. She is the fourth victim of a murderer who scrubs the corpses clean with bleach before dumping them to be recovered. He leaves no trace evidence, and has no apparent motive. He is the police’s worst nightmare; a serial killer. Teri Denton is a DCI in the recently formed MIT – Major Incident Team – at Hanford. With no leads to follow Teri contacts criminal psychologist Dr Paul Brand, who is reputedly able to ‘mind hunt’ the type of homicidal psychopath that becomes a repeater. Brand has a dubious gift. He is able to think his way into a killer’s mind and, more often than not develop a profile and provide investigative suggestions for the police to follow. But this killer is clever, organized, and knows all the moves. He considers himself better than the police at the ultimate game. He knows how they work, and believes that he is au fait with the methodology that they and the profiler will undoubtedly employ to try to apprehend him. To his mind, Brand is totally inept to believe that behaviour always reflects personality that can be evaluated and lead in the right direction. As they will soon appreciate, he is not like anyone they have come up against before. Teri and Paul use psychological warfare to draw the killer out, and to their regret are eminently successful. To the perpetrator – dubbed the Phantom – this is gratifying, and so he decides to change the rules of what he sees as combat and engage with them head on. Now it’s personal.

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2018

About the author

I write the type of original, action-packed, violent crime thrillers that I know I would enjoy reading if they were written by such authors as: Lee Child, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly and their ilk.
Over twenty years in the Prison Service proved great research into the minds of criminals, and especially into the dark world that serial killers - of who I have met quite a few - frequent.

I live in a cottage a mile from the nearest main road in the Yorkshire Wolds, enjoy photography, the wildlife, and of course creating new characters to place in dilemmas that my mind dreams up.

What makes a good read? Believable protagonists that you care about, set in a story that stirs all of your emotions.

If you like crime fiction, then I believe that 'Deadly Reprisal' and 'A Reacher Kind of Guy - Aftermath' will push all the right buttons for you.

Reviews

[Paula D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, brilliant

This book grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. The characters are depicted so well they come alive on the pages. Just when you think you know where the storyline is going it takes a turn which you hadn’t second guessed.
Brilliantly written and gripping, I would love to see this on the big screen.
As you can tell, I loved it! Buy it and read one of the best books you have ever read. Chris Carter eat your heart out, Michael Kerr is coming to get you.

[ron harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular

Another spectacular story by. Michael Kerr.
Frighteningly gruesome, wonderfully exciting, unable to put it down with a storming ending .
Hope Kerr continues to produce such as these.