The Executioner - Chris Carter

In a Los Angeles church, on the steps of the altar, lies the bloody, decapitated body of a priest. Carefully placed, legs spread, arms folded across chest, and most horrific of all, the priest's head has been replaced with a dog's. The forensics team later discovers that the number three is written in blood on the victim's chest.

Inspector Robert Hunter initially believes it was a ritual murder. But after the discovery of new corpses, he changes his mind. All the victims died in the way they feared the most. Their worst nightmares had come true. But how could the killer know about it? And what connects these seemingly randomly selected victims? Hunter sets out in pursuit of an elusive, sadistic killer, a person who seems to have the power to read the minds of his victims, who can sense what scares them the most. For someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his sick plan.

The Executioner, Dželat as it is translated in Serbia, is the second novel about the detective duo Hunter - Garcia and their hunt for serial killers. I was a bit messy, so this is the third Carter novel I've read. Otherwise, to my great regret, I read them in electronic format, but I have greate desire to have them all on my shelf...

As in the previous two parts, Hunter and Garcia are faced with another seemingly unsolvable case. They're chasing a serial killer again. However, this one is extremely brutal. He kills people with their own fears, more precisely, he gives them the death they fear the most. The investigative methods, Hunter's brainstorming and deductions are something that Carter describes phenomenally. He does it so well that while reading it, I had the impression that I was one of the police officers helping the detectives. I often put myself in the position of Hunter or Garcia. The two of them are a real dynamic duo. They complement each other, watch each other's backs, and thus become much more than ordinary partners at work.

Although Hunter and Garcia are phenomenal and you can't help but love them, what particularly fascinated me about The Executioner, as well as Carter's other books, is the killer and the methods he uses. I am fascinated by how precisely the author describes the scenes of torture and even the murders themselves. At certain moments, I had the impression that Carter is better at being a psychopath and a murderer than as a detective. Because until the very end, it's the killer who has the upper hand, and the detectives are in the worst of it. Even though the killer is a sadist, a psychopath and all that goes with it, Carter makes you somehow feel sorry for him. Honestly, his killers fascinate me.

As the saying goes... "Beware of the woman who watches True Crime to fall asleep." ;) A saying totally applicable to Carter's novels. Also to me, because I read The Executioner to ward off the cold that broke me and pinned me to bed.

That killer psychology and Hunter's investigative methods are not surprising considering that Cutter worked as a criminal psychologist for years. I can't even imagine what he saw and heard. Thanks to him for translating those experiences into books that I adore.

The publisher of The Executioner for Serbia is the publishing house Stela knjige.