Do you know the old saying that sometimes it seems that time stands still? For Zack Wilson, attorney at law, that adage just doesn't hold water. Zack has split-seconds to make decisions that not only will determine his life expectancy, but also the lives of everyone in the court room. During those horrible seconds, and there are only 45 of them, Zack must evaluate the situation, determine a plan of action and then implement it. He must do this with the goal of protecting everyone, but most importantly, with a father's survival impulse of protecting his son. Just what Zack does and how the story plays out is the main premise of Ed Gaffney's DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER, his third nail-biting suspense novel featuring defense attorneys Zack Wilson and Terry Tallach.

As we meet Zack and Terry again, they've been asked to re- examine the Springfield Shooter case after convicted murderer Alan Lombardo insists he did not commit the crime. True champions for the underdog, Zack and Terry begrudgingly begin to work the case, even though all the evidence implicates Lombardo. The case gets more complicated when the investigation requires looking into the past dealings of Alan Lombardo and his mob connections. First complication, the attorney who defended Lombardo is none other than now Federal Judge Nehemiah Wilson, Zack's father.

While Zack and Terry are establishing their case for Lombardo, a series of gruesome and eerily similar killings begin. The murders escalate toward a final victim and the killer begins to taunt the police with clues of who the next victim will be. Police Detective Vera Demopolous plays a frustrating game of cat and mouse with the murderer, who's using word games to lure her into his trap. Will she figure out the clues in time to reach each victim, or is the killer simply leading her into a trap culminating in her own death?

Ed Gaffney does it again and has developed a complex, compelling and thoroughly engrossing story that draws you into the mind of the killer. Gaffney continues to take risks with his storytelling style and jumps back and forth from present time to the past. He builds the tension of each storyline throughout the novel so that on the last few pages, the reader simply can't put the book down. Readers who enjoy a fast-paced, stress-inducing ride will really enjoy this novel.