In their first collaboration, Jeffrey Deaver and Isabella Maldonado make a formidable team. The prolific Deaver has been keeping readers on the edge of their seats for decades with his Lincoln Rhyme, Kathryn Dance, and Colter Shaw series, while Maldonado brings to her mysteries her real life experience as a graduate of the FBI Academy in Quantico, and a police captain for the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia.
Fatal Intrusion introduces Carmen Sanchez, a Homeland Security agent, and Jake Heron, a skilled computer and private security expert, who form an uneasy alliance tracking a serial killer called Spider. Sanchez and Heron have a fractured personal and professional history, having worked on another case together with bad results. That Sanchez seeks out Heron’s help speaks to her desperation as she tries to nab the killer who almost made her sister, Selina, one of his victims.
Jeffrey Deaver (Photo Credit: Nikki Giovanni Coniglio 2010)
Spider defies categorization. Unlike the typical serial killer, Spider isn’t following a pattern. His victims are not similar and have no connection, at least not one that is obvious. Two things, however, do stand out. One, he distracts his target by rolling a small white marble in front of them. When they bend down to inspect the marble, he strikes. Two, he leaves behind something that is related to the victim’s background or job, which means he has not selected those he kills randomly, but does his research.
Selina escaped being killed when a good Samaritan intervened. Unfortunately, that man was badly injured, although he survived. Both were able to give Sanchez a description of the assailant, including the spider tattoo on his wrist. Spider, his real name is Dennison Fallow, is obsessed with spiders. In the chapters that focus on him, we learn a lot about the arachnida family. (The squeamish can skip over these sections.) With three attacks behind him, Spider – spurred on by an unseen force he calls “The Push” – is just getting started. Sanchez knows they need to work quickly if they are to prevent further deaths.
Isabella Maldonado (Photo Credit: Skip Feinstein)
Technically, Sanchez cannot work the case, since it falls under the jurisdiction of the county sheriff and other local police forces. Also, because she has a connection with one of the victims, she needs to recuse herself. Staying on the sidelines, however, is not an option for the results-driven Sanchez. Since she can’t work with those already on the case, she seeks out Heron.
Sanchez and Heron are polar opposites. Having worked with the FBI and now Homeland Security, she sticks to the rules. Heron, routinely defies them. A college PhD, he defines himself as an “intrusionist,” someone who is hired by a client to breach their security, thereby identifying deficiencies. Sanchez’s computer skills are good, but Heron’s are on another level. He also has “associates,” the most skilled one codenamed “Aruba,” who makes government techs look like amateurs. Initially, Sanchez is reluctant to have Heron use Aruba, or anyone else who may be operating beyond the law. But still worried that Selina may be a target, she gives him the green light.
As they delve more into Spider’s background, Sanchez and Heron learn this twisted young man, who has been schooled by some of the best killers around, is just the tip of a criminal conspiracy that has more sinister goals. Nothing less than the fate of the world is at stake.
It’s become common these days for mystery writers to join their talents and launch a new series. Some of these collaborations are more successful than others. Based on this first outing, Deaver and Maldonado are off to a thrilling start. The plot has all the twists and turns that define works by these two writers. Sanchez and Heron are intriguing characters whose relationship can grow in future entries. (The second one is apparently titled The Grief Artist.) There are hints that Sanchez and Heron were romantically involved at one point. Another story line that will keep us reading.
Fatal Intrusion
Jeffrey Deaver
Isabella Maldonado
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