William Morrow Paperbacks
Featuring: Frank Rath; Sonja Test
448 pages ISBN: 0062672800 EAN: 9780062672803 Kindle: B01N2VK4K3 Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
The action takes place in a remote Vermont town where
college student Rachel Rath is being stalked. When Rachel
was just a baby, her parents were killed by serial killer
Ned Preacher. He has just been recently released from prison
after "working" the system by pleading to a lesser charge
and being the perfect prisoner. Now, he has some payback to do.
Rachel's father is actually her uncle with her mother
having been Frank Rath's sister. In fact, he had been the
one to discover his sister and her husband in a bloody mess
when he arrived to help in preparing for his birthday
celebration when he was 18. Incredibly, he heard his baby
niece crying from upstairs. He knew there was nothing he
could do for his sister and her husband but he had to
protect baby Rachel, which is exactly what he did. He
adopted her.
This single event in his life led Frank to become a police
detective. While he solved other cases, it was always his
intent to put away Ned Preacher and keep him there. The
keeping him there did not work out so well, though. Now,
Rachel is in college and living with her boyfriend an hour
away from Frank's house. Even Frank has resigned from the
police force to become a private investigator.
Then he gets a phone call from Ned Preacher. He is out of
prison and is watching Rachel right that very minute. Rath
goes into instant motion by making a phone call as he runs
to his vehicle that will get the police to Rachel's
apartment within minutes. Even though nothing happened to
Rachel this time, it is only the beginning of what Ned
Preacher has planned for the Rath family. Sort of like a cat
playing with a mouse before dining on it.
In order to stop Preacher from continuing his killing
rampage, Rath agrees to rejoin the police department as a
homicide detective. He is determined to stop Preacher, only
this time it will be permanent.
Stalking creeps out everyone except, perhaps, the stalker.
THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS will definitely have you looking
over your shoulder for quite some time after you have
completed it. You will be asking yourself as you walk alone
down a neighborhood sidewalk if that person not far behind
you wearing a hoodie and hands shoved in the pockets is just
out for a stroll or are you being stalked? Nothing can be
spookier than this particular scenario.
THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS begins with the action on the very
first page and does not let up until the very end when
everything is explained satisfactorily. However, until that
time, you will not be able to think about anything except
what will happen next in THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS. It is also
a book that will remain with you long after that last page
is finished.
Eric Rickstad has crafted an amazingly brilliant and
realistic book with THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS that just might
leave you with a few nightmares. This is the first of his
books that I have had the immense pleasure of reading. I
will be looking for more written by him. His writing is well
worth your time, guaranteed. But you might want to keep the
lights on while reading.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author Eric Rickstad delivers another Canaan Crime novel,
the electrifying sequel to The Silent Girls, and
features once again detectives Frank Rath and Sonja Test as
they track a depraved killer through rural Vermont.
Every murder tells a story. Some stories never end . . .
In a remote northern Vermont town, college student Rachel
Rath is being watched. She can feel the stranger’s eyes on
her, relentless and possessive. And she’s sure the man
watching her is the same man who killed her mother and
father years ago: Ned Preacher, a serial rapist and murderer
who gamed the system to get a light sentence. Now, he’s free.
Detective Frank Rath adopted Rachel, his niece, after the
shocking murder of her parents when she was a baby. Ever
since, Rath’s tried to protect her from the true story of
her parents’ deaths. But now Preacher is calling Rath to
torment him. He’s threatening Rachel and plotting cruelties
for her, of the flesh and of the mind. When other girls are
found brutally murdered, and a woman goes missing, Rath and
Detective Sonja Test must untangle the threads that tie
these new crimes and some long-ago nightmares together. Soon
they will learn that the truth is more perverse than anyone
could guess, rife with secrets, cruel desires, and warped,
deadly loyalty.
Mesmerizing, startling, and intricately plotted, The
Names of Dead Girls builds relentlessly on its
spellbinding premise, luring readers into its dark and
macabre mystery, right to its shocking end.