Pattern of Wounds by J Mark Bertrand

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Pattern of Wounds
(Bethany House - July 1, 2011)
by
J. Mark Bertrand

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J. Mark Bertrand lived in Houston, where the series is set, for fifteen years, earning an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. But after one hurricane too many he relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota. Mark has been arrested for a crime he didn't commit, was the foreman of one hung jury and served on another that acquitted Vinnie Jones of assault. In 1972, he won an honorable mention in a child modeling contest, but pursued writing instead.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It's Christmas in Houston, and homicide detective Roland March is on the hunt for a killer. A young woman's brutal stabbing in an affluent neighborhood bears all the hallmarks of a serial murder. The only problem is that March sent the murderer to prison ten years ago. Is it a copycat -- or did March convict the wrong man?

Alienated from his colleagues and with a growing rift in his marriage, March receives messages from the killer. The bodies pile up, the pressure builds, and the violence reaches too close to home. Up against an unfathomable evil, March struggles against the clock to understand the hidden message in the pattern of wounds.

MY THOUGHTS:

This one of those books where you'd better get yourself unbusy before you start reading it, because everything else is going to fade into the background and you'll feel put out when something comes up and you have to put it down. Pattern of Wounds is a gripping novel from the very start and the author is a master of sowing seeds of doubt throughout the entire story. I don't know how many times I figured out 'whodunit' as I read only to find out I was totally off track. Once the book reached its climax and the perp was revealed, I was a bit surprised and a lot satisfied! I will be certainly be checking out J Mark Bertrand's backlist and awaiting anything else he publishes.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Pattern of Wounds, go HERE.