Beneath the Skin

Nicci French

Think of Nicci French as the darker, rougher side of Judith Michael—a collaboration between two folks, one male, one female, on some very nasty mysteries. In this case, the main character (though he gets relatively little screen time) is a serial killer who enjoys stalking his victims, leaving them love notes, outwitting the police, that sort of thing. Your typical above-average-intelligence serial killer. We see him, and the police trying to catch him, through the eyes of three of the women he stalks. It's a clever conceit, and it's pulled off quite nicely here. The use of different first-person narrators gives more insight (especially into some of the minor characters) than one normally gets in books of this type. Add in a clever twist at the end (predictable, but still clever), and you've got a bang-up novel. I'll be reading more of Nicci French in the future.