Select one of the keywords
Night Terrors: A Daniel Rinaldi Mystery    by Dennis Palumbo Amazon.com order for
Night Terrors
by Dennis Palumbo
Order:  USA  Can
Poisoned Pen, 2013 (2013)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD
* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

If you're ready for a good mystery, Night Terrors by Dennis Palumbo is a real humdinger.

Retired FBI profiler Lyle Barnes is falling apart mentally, most probably because of his years of working with the most violent of prisoners. Psychologist Daniel Rinaldi wants to help him escape from the horrors of night terrors. I always thought that this term meant someone had awful dreams. Night terrors go way beyond a bad nightmare. It must be like the very pits of hell.

In any case, Barnes is on a hit list compiled by an unknown assassin. Barnes thinks he can take better care of himself than the FBI and so flees his safe house. More persons are on this hit list - no one is sure why but suspect this is a serial killer with a serious grudge.

To throw more unknowns into this combined operation of the FBI, and two separate police departments, a young man is arrested when he confesses to the murder of a prominent citizen, even though his mother is positively sure he is innocent. The killer seems to be wherever one on his list is being hidden from him. The body count grows.

Rinaldi – remember him, the psychologist – is told to keep his hands off anything to do with all the murders. That's like asking a bull not to charge a red cape. He is battered and shot at and exhausted. He keeps going because he knows something is not right in this manhunt.

Rinaldi also ruminates on the human condition and gives the reader some thoughts to examine apart from a very good book. Get comfortable when you open Night Terrors. You won't be able to put it down. All the clues come together for a really exciting finale. This is the third in the Daniel Rinaldi series. I do hope Mr. Palumbo is hard at work on the next one.

Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.

Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews