Let me introduce you to our main cast of characters here.
Mitch: The writer. That encompasses all about him right there. He writes, he blogs, etc. It is his life. He is also head-over-heels in love with a woman and it is making his brain kind of foggy if you ask me.
S.: She has been Mitch's unicorn among women for so very long now. We never find out her name, which I will admit is strange. But we know she works in the art world. So she and Mitch are connected by that thin strand of creative talent.
Paul: He is a super smart idiot. That doesn't make sense? Read the book and all will become clear. The guy is a genius, in some areas. He is also a little on the crazy end.
Mitch has finally found himself "with" the woman of his dreams, and just does not know what to do with
himself. So he takes a little trip over to Italy to try and clear his head some, and to check some things off of his life to-do list that he has. While he is in another country mooning about S. and trying to over analyze everything (a possible problem I fear most writers probably have), she is going out on dates with some other guy and getting constantly harassed by her assistant. Unbeknownst to him, Paul has finally decided to act on his grudge he has been holding in all of these years. He hatches a plot to frame Mitch for murder. He starts watching every move that Mitch makes and starts killing the people he comes into contact with. At first, his work is sloppy at best. And it's a little ridiculous for someone trying to be a serial killer. He changes tactics too much. And you can't just take credit for what was pretty much an accident. Nevertheless, he follows Mitch around Italy and carves some initials on two of his victims. Then both men are back in the United States. Things start heating up and Paul starts getting more elaborate on his killing spree. And a spree it is. The bodies just start piling up. Not only that, but he is now posing as a separate serial killer who videos people confessing to bad things they have done right before he kills them and sends it out to social networks like YouTube. All the while, he is still trying to frame Mitch. About halfway through the book, Paul's rage starts consuming him. He starts going crazy. Where before he was sane enough for it to sicken him to kill people, now it was nothing. And he had starts talking to Pepsi cans. Either the guy is super isolated and lonely or he has just gone off of the deep end. The closer Paul gets to Mitch, the more you wonder if S. is going to be his next victim. And then Mitch gets picked up by the FBI. It just so happens that all of his online time might be what clears him. Now he just has to stop Paul before he kills someone he cares about.
I find it highly ironic that Brian Meeks wrote a book about a writer. And that the writer had just created his own best real life type novel through something he had done to Paul years ago. The best part is that Paul the crazy man was created rather unknowingly. Mitch created his own monster.
I will admit, the first of the book is kind of slow, but it definitely picks up. At times I wanted to thump Paul because of his idiocy. And then there were times that I sat there wondering how in the world Mitch could go about like he was without knowing at all what was going on? Everyone knew about the murders it seemed like, except those within his little circle. And although these things may seem like little annoyances, it is also what makes it so good. Books that don't evoke feelings are boring. And this is a great thriller! It's not overly violent while still a great read! Refreshing!!!
