Book Review: Nine Elms

Synopsis:

In 1995, Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective. But two things went wrong. First, she had an ill-advised, but brief dalliance with her supervising detective. And then she figured out the identity of the notorious Nine Elms serial killer.

Suddenly, her greatest victory became her biggest nightmare. Traumatized, betrayed, and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, her brilliant career was suddenly over.

Fifteen years later, Kate has worked hard to make a life for herself and her son, Jake. But she is still haunted by the events that derailed her dream of rising through the ranks of the police department. Now a respected lecturer at a small coastal English university, she will confront the past when a copycat murderer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, committing a ghastly string of killings.

Her brilliant and eager research assistant, Tristan Harper, joins Kate as she draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster.

Success promises redemption, but everything is on the line. Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim . . . and his successor intends to finish what his idol did not.

Review:

Robert Bryndza is the author of the six-installment Erika Foster series that includes The Girl in the Ice, The Night Stalker, and Dark Water.

In Nine Elms, he introduces another female detective, Kate Marshall, with a troubled past. But unlike Erika, Kate’s career is cut short. Young and ambitious, the story begins in 1995. Kate foolishly had a brief affair with her handsome and charismatic supervisor, Peter Conway, but it was over by the time Kate solved the Nine Elms case. Not only did she figure out who was abducting and brutally murdering teenage girls, she almost lost her own life when the killer, realizing that Kate had solved the mystery, tried to make her his fifth victim. Kate was seriously injured during the attack. She survived, as did the unborn child she did not yet know she was carrying, but her career did not. The scandalous circumstances forced her off the police force.

This is something we’ll debate . . . Nature versus nurture. Are serial killers born or made? And to answer your question . . . I want to — no, I have to believe it’s the latter. ~~ Kate Marshall in Nine Elms

Fifteen years later, Kate has struggled to get her life back on track. Now an alcoholic in recovery, her son, Jake, lives with her parents and Kate cherishes the time she spends with him. Kate lectures about serial killers at a small university that provides her with a home on the beach. She swims in the sea every morning and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly with her sponsor and next-door neighbor, Myra, who operates a surf shop. Kate works hard to maintain her six years of sobriety, substituting iced tea for the late afternoon cocktail that she still craves.

Her young research assistant, Tristan Harper, lives with his sister, Sarah, and absorbs knowledge from Kate, accompanying her as she launches into an investigation into a new series of murders that bear frightening similarities to the Nine Elms killings. The Nine Elms killer remains imprisoned in a mental institution, so the killer must be a copycat. But is there a connection?

Bryndza has crafted another intriguing and empathetic female protagonist. Kate is flawed and she must confront her own shortcomings on a daily basis. She is not living the life she envisioned for herself — she sorely misses being a police detective and is still bitter about the manner in which her career was derailed. Which is not to say that she does not recognize and accept how her choices led to that result. She does. But the combination of losing the job she loved so much and being a single mother propelled her into a downward spiral of depression and alcoholism. Thankfully, her parents have always assisted, including when they took Jake to live with them while Kate sorted herself out. Now, however, it still galls Kate that she does not have custody of her only child and must negotiate his visits with her mother. “It always felt wrong that she came home alone with her son lived somewhere else, but she had to keep looking forward; she had to keep believing that the best was yet to come. Jake wa going to have a wonderful life. She was determined to make it happen, even if it meant distancing herself from his formative years.”

When Kate finds herself investigating a new series of murders, she is invigorated and reevaluates her life in academia. Could she make it as a private investigator? Joined by her assistant, Tristan, she must operate off the grid since she is no longer a member of the police force to determine if the murders are tied to the killer she caught all those years ago.

Brynzda has masterfully crafted a clever, terrifying thriller with an empathetic and endearing character right in the middle of the action. There is not a superfluous word or scene in Brynzda’s tautly constructed mystery depicting a truly deranged monster and the woman who must outsmart him for her own sake, as well as her child’s. The pace never slows, making the book impossible to put down. Kate’s combination of determination, superb skills, and emotional vulnerability compel the dark story forward, full of twists and turns that readers never see coming. As in his Erika Foster series, Brynzda candidly describes his characters’ deeds, and the murders in this story are brutal and graphically, but never gratuitously depicted. Brynzda has surrounded Kate with a cast of supporting characters who are every bit as interesting, including, chiefly, Peter Conway and his mother.

Nine Elms is an exciting launch of a new series that promises to be a perfect combination of chilling mysteries and a fascinating character study.