The Caller by Chris Carter

Simon & Schuster UK | July 2017 | 496 pgs

Source: Library

The Caller is the eighth book of Chris Carter's Robert Hunter series and I've to say it works well as a stand-alone since I've not read any of the previous installments yet this book provides enough background of our lead character, Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD Homicide Special Section, which deals solely with serial and high-profile homicide cases. 

The story opens with a horrific crime whereby the murderer has his victim tied to a chair as he makes a video call to the victim's best friend. The rules of his game is simple: answer two of his questions correctly and the victim's life would be spared. The questions aren't that hard as it involves the victim, but the murderer has done his homework beforehand and knew that his questions would stump his target. Not only that, he is vicious to an extent that any wrong answer or refusal to answer or watch the video would result a punishment to the victim. Karen Ward died because Tanya Kaitlin didn't know her best friend's cellphone number. With the convenience of speed dial function and our reliance on it, people would seldom commit to remember the numbers unless necessarily and the murderer knew Tanya's weakness through the social media platform, which is another way to find people's profile and status easily if one is careless with his security setting. 

Before Hunter and his assistant, Carlos Garcia, have found anything surrounding Karen's murder, the murderer has moved on to his second target, then the third in a span of five days. Each victim died terribly and like Tanya, the victims' friend or family members are forced to witness the death of their loved ones after failing to answer the murderer's questions. The murders were brutal and were described explicitly so it is not for the faint of heart. 

While it wasn't easy to read through these parts, I've to say this story was fast-paced and very suspenseful as I raced through the book and wondered how Hunter and Garcia would hunt down this monster without any clues since he was clever and was always careful when evidence traces are concerned. The author has done a great job in fleshing out the characters (in particularly the murderer and Robert Hunter) as well as exploring the psychopath's state of mind and Hunter's profession through his expertise in criminal psychology. While it was satisfying to see there was justice towards the end of story, it was also sad to learn about the murderer's past and what drove him to insanity (not a spoiler since the murderer's identity and motives remain vague until towards the end of the book.) 

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