Worm

Cindy Glander

While plagued with the usual typos one expects from an iUniverse release, and something of an overenthusiastic back-cover blurb writer (also typical of iUniverse), there's a lot to be liked in this little tale of a New England serial killer. The young Worm, a typical social outcast (there are a few at every school), grows up transformed by a stint in the army into a devoted police officer, befriended by his partner, Hank. Hank's best friend Sam had died as the victim of a random crime, and Hank promised to keep watch over Sam's son Maggie as the man died. Maggie took over Sam's pet store after Sam's death, and now Maggie is torn between an attraction for Jake and one for Frank, part-timer at the pet store who also works at the hardware store down the street. Amidst all this, Hank and Jake are tracking a serial killer in New Milford, Connecticut.

Yep, a serial killer in Connecticut, and one whose motives are (to say the least) deeply odd, seeming almost random at the beginning of the story. This adds to the confusion at the beginning, of which there is a great deal. Once you've gotten to the point where you know the characters, however, things progress more smoothly. The mystery angle here is pretty stock stuff, as is the romance angle, and both get relatively predictable about halfway through the book. The pleasure in Worm, however, is seeing how the late Glander gets from the point where you realize who the killer is and who Maggie will end up in love with to getting to the actual scenes, and what sorts of obstacles will get thrown in everyone's way while getting from point A to point B.

Worm isn't likely to grab you by the throat and proclaim itself the best mystery you've ever come across, but it's certainly good reading for those times when you're in need of a good, predictable genre piece that'll keep you turning the pages.