Victor Methos’ Silent Watcher – A Killer Hides in the Walls
Piper Danes has been out of law school for little more than a year and is now a guardian ad litem (GAL), a lawyer who is assigned to protect the rights of someone, usually a minor, who may have been the victim of a crime. Piper left a lucrative career in a law firm because she believes in what she does. She was once a vulnerable young person whose life was turned around by the GAL assigned to her. After both of her parents died, Piper was raised by her grandmother, Lake Danes. She now lives in Las Vegas with her grandmother and the roles have reversed, since Piper worries about Lake’s physical and mental health.
Piper’s latest case concerns Sophie Grace, a 15 year-old whose mother and brother were brutally murdered in their home. Sophie had been at a school dance, and when she returned home the assailant was still there. She managed to escape out of an upstairs window, cutting herself in the process. The killer, dubbed “The Creeper,” has not been caught, making Piper’s job to keep Sophie safe even more difficult.
Las Vegas Detective Lazarus Holloway is on the case, and he believes The Creeper has killed before. Like Sophie’s family, three young people who were staying in a remote camping area died after their were stabbed numerous times with a screw driver. Because Holloway never caught that killer, he’s more determined than ever to find him now.
Also involved in the case is Judge Hope Dawson who has been given a grant to improve the handling of children in the criminal justice system. A GAL is needed as part of the team and the focus will be the Grace case. During a meeting, Dawson stresses to Piper that she’s not responsible for finding the killer. That’s Holloway’s job. Hers is to protect Sophie, who is staying at the Children’s Justice Center.
Holloway comes with Piper to meet Sophie and the meeting gets off to a bad start. Sophie is still suffering trauma from what she witnessed and Piper knows trying to interrogate her – Holloway’s method – will only cause the teen to clam up. Instead she takes Sophie out for a walk and begins the bonding process. Unless Sophie can trust those who are trying to help her, she won’t be able to help them.
Sophie’s mother, Emily, was an addict. Even though resources were tight, Emily had installed a state of the art security system. Since there was no evidence someone had broken into the home, did Emily know the killer? And why was Sophie able to escape? Holloway is obsessed with figuring out how someone might have gotten into the house, or perhaps stayed hidden, possibly observing the family before striking. His persistence will enable him to finally catch the killer.
An arrest is only the beginning, however. When a skilled defense attorney, Russo Maria Bianchi, signs on to defend the killer, the trio trying to protect Sophie – Piper, Hope, and Lazarus – must redouble their efforts to keep the teen, the only witness to the murders, safe.
Victor Methos
This is the first mystery I’ve read by Victor Methos and he’s certainly grabbed my attention. A former prosecutor in Salt Lake City, he headed up a criminal defense firm and tried more than 100 trials over a decade. He knows the law as well as the dark underbelly of the criminal world. And he’s obviously bumped up against detectives like Lazarus who must, at times, tread into that world in order to follow the trail that will lead to a killer.
The ending leaves some things up in the air, so we hope he’s already working on a sequel to bring Piper, Hope, and Lazarus back for another appearance in Las Vegas.
Silent Watcher
Victor Methos
Top photo: Bigstock
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