Five years ago, Marcus Flynn was accused of murdering young
girls in North Buffalo, New York. Just before being
apprehended, he shot himself in the head, but survived.
Known as the Hangman for his method of death, he was sent
to prison without revealing the location of the last girl's
body. Crazy to start with, the bullet to the brain further
acerbated his mental state. When he's able to escape his
prison guard while being transferred, the Hangman is
resurrected and his horrific reign of terror starts again.
Buffalo homicide cop Absalom (Abbie) Kearney is lead
detective, and she'll do whatever it takes to stop the
Hangman. Having a decorated cop for a father from in the
tough Irish enclave in South Buffalo known as the "County"
and now wearing his old badge, Abbie knows there are other
ways to investigate this crime. Will she become desperate
enough to cross the line and ask for help from
the "Network" of ex-cops who knew her father so well? It
may be the only way she can bring the Hangman to justice.
HANGMAN by Stephan Talty is a riveting, fast-paced
psychological crime thriller that will captivate readers
from first page to last. We first met the indomitable Abbie
Kearney in the compelling thriller BLACK IRISH, and she
hasn't lost a bit of her edge in HANGMAN. Be prepared for
lots of tense components to the investigation as it leads
to a startling ending.
New York Times bestselling author Stephan Talty's
acclaimed fiction debut, Black Irish, won him
comparisons to such thriller masters as Jo Nesbø, Karin
Slaughter, and Tana French. Now, his chilling new novel
brings back intrepid heroine Absalom Kearney, a driven
police detective with a haunted past, trying to make a
difference in a troubled town.
Hangman, Hangman, what do you see? Four little girls, as
cute as can be.
The eerie schoolyard chant still sends ripples of horror
through North Buffalo. Not so long ago, serial killer
Marcus Flynn preyed upon the community's teenaged daughters
— until he was cornered and shot in the head. But Flynn
lived, carrying to prison the nickname "Hangman," along
with the secret of his last victim's fate. Homicide cop
Abbie Kearney wasn't around during Hangman's reign of
terror. She hadn't yet come home to wear her dad's old
badge in the tough Irish American stronghold known as "the
County." Abbie had never experienced firsthand the horror
of Hangman. Until now.
Hangman, Hangman, where do they go? Down on the ground,
where the daffodils grow.
A corrections officer lies dead, a prison van stands
empty...and somewhere out there, the monster who condemned
innocents to death at the end of a rope watches and waits
to strike again. Abbie leads a desperate manhunt through a
city driven to its knees by fear, matching wits with a
predator as brilliant as he is elusive. But as more victims
are claimed, a rising tide of secrecy, paranoia, and
politics forces her to realize that stepping beyond the law
may be the only way to find justice. Because with each
passing hour, the stakes grow higher — and Hangman's noose
gets tighter.