A master killer calling himself the Sandman is out for revenge. He's slaughtering not just one person at a time but whole families and whole neighborhoods, unleashing devastating explosions nationwide, and watching the horror unfold on a sophisticated network of surveillance cameras. No one knows why he is committing his crimes, or where he'll strike next.

But one man -- Jack Casey -- knows this: the Sandman wants him in the middle of the case, and wants him to suffer...

Jack was the FBI's top profiler until a psychopath's unspeakable crime shattered his life. Now Jack is starting over as a detective in a posh shoreline community outside Boston, and involved with a beautiful woman who knows nothing about his shocking past. But the Sandman has found him, and his cutting-edge electronic devices are silently monitoring Jack's every move. Knowing that a showdown is imminent, Jack turns in desperation to Malcolm Fletcher, a strange and brilliant fallen angel from the profiling unit. Fletcher is wanted by the FBI. And he possesses the key to unlocking the Sandman's demented mind.

As Jack Casey confronts evidence that the evil he's fighting may have emanated from his own side of the law, the Sandman's motivations begin to appear and a wild chase ensues. But while racing against time to save the next family, Jack is led deeper into the dark and terrifying tunnels of his fragile mind -- a place where the Sandman awaits, to deal his final master stroke of vindictive cruelty.

Deviant Ways is a breathtaking and unforgettable first novel that catapults Chris Mooney into suspense fiction's highest ranks. A harrowing journey through ordinary streets turned into scenes of unimaginable terror, it careens from cries of mass murder to whispers within the mind -- in a disturbing cat-and-mouse game of righ-teousness, loss, and vengeance.

Amazon.com Review
Move over, Hannibal Lecter. The Sandman is coming, and he's going to knock you off your perch as the world's creepiest and smartest serial killer. Chris Mooney's nail-biting, scarifying debut thriller features a fully drawn protagonist in former FBI profiler Jack Casey, whose life was shattered when another madman killed his pregnant wife before his eyes. Now Jack's a local cop on a small-town beat in Marblehead, Massachusetts, rebuilding his life with the help of a beautiful woman and a community of caring friends. But when a psychopath who seems to know everything about Jack's past as well as his present starts torturing and killing entire families in the quiet Boston suburb and then trapping his pursuers by blowing them up at the scene, Casey begins to wonder where the man the media dubbed the Sandman is getting his inside information. Is there a conspiracy at the highest levels of federal intelligence to cover up a behavioral experiment gone wrong? What's the connection between an unsolved arson at a Massachusetts home for troubled boys and the Sandman's choice of victims? And where does another ex-profiler fit in? He seems to know as much as the Sandman and offers Jack his help in solving the awful crimes.

The most important question may be whether Anthony Hopkins is available for another leading role as a psychopath. But don't wait for the inevitable big-screen treatment. Grab this bloody, violent, and mesmerizing study of psychological terror and the redemptive power of love before they call the casting director. Just don't read it on a stormy night when you're home alone. --Jane Adams