Dark Pursuit

Vigilante detective Emily Stone has covertly hunted down killers and closed more serial cases than most seasoned homicide cops combined. Her exceptional profiling skills and forensic techniques, along with deductive crime scene investigations, have made her a compelling force that cannot be beat. She has reached her ultimate breaking point and now must face her toughest opponent yet her biggest fears. With disturbing preciseness, the Tick-Tock Killer has taken his next child victim and promised to dump the body precisely four days later, mocking police and the community. Stone struggles to balance her inner demons and ghosts from the past, against the wits of a brutal and cunning serial killer in an all-out battle of psychological warfare. Can Stone save the next child in time?

Dark Pursuit (Thriller)

By Jennifer Chase

JEC Press

ISBN #978-0991096916

Price $15.99 paperback

343 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Plenty of Thrills To Keep You On The Edge of Your Seat.”

Emily Stone and her partner, Rick Lopez, the phantom detectives, are searching for a child serial killer called The Tick Tock Killer by the media. He has already killed several children that are known, and maybe more that have yet to be discovered. As the story opens Emily is in pursuit of Kevin Werner, a recent suspect in the case, when her vehicle is ran off a cliff and she barely escapes. Now trailing the suspect into the woods on foot she finds the latest victim still alive, but before she can rescue the child Werner knocks her out and leaves her on an open grave with the bodies of other children long missing. She awakes to find the victim also dead, and wonders why the killer left her alive.

As a long time pulp fan and researcher, I was surprised to read that the vigilante team is called the phantom detectives. A little later I came across this: “…what evil lurked inside him…” The 1930s through the ‘50s were rampant with great pulp vigilante heroes, such as The Phantom Detective, and who will ever forget The Shadow’s weird announcement, “Who Knows What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows!” I can’t help but wonder if the author is familiar with the pulps. In this case, the phantom detectives, Emily Stone and Rick Lopez are working outside the law to catch serial killers. Emily is a master profiler, and ex sheriff’s deputy, while Rick was a police officer and detective, now working with Emily. There are only rumors that the phantom detectives exist. The police receive anonymous information concerning the killer once the phantom detectives have the data, then they disappear to trail another killer. It’s a fascinating concept, and certainly a fun story, as we follow the team of vigilantes pursuing The Tick Tock Killer.

Regardless of the retro connection to the pulp era, this is a contemporary setting in California, with all the computer and electronic gadgets available to the covert investigators. I did get the impression that the phantom detectives had little trust in police solving the cases. The subject matter is dark, but the writing is entertaining, and the characters move the story at a fast pace, with plenty of thrills to keep you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories