Signature Kill: A Novel (Frank Behr)

Taut and edgy, Signature Kill is a riveting exploration of a killer next door—a tour de force from acclaimed author David Levien.

The quiet of the Indianapolis night is broken when an unidentifiable body is found in a local park, deliberately arranged in such a way that police know it’s not a random crime. Across the city, former cop Frank Behr, down on his luck and virtually broke, takes on a no-win case to locate a desperate mother’s wayward daughter who’s been missing for months. Behr has few friends left on the police force, but as he wades into the world of small-time prostitution from which the daughter disappeared, he comes to believe the two cases are related.
     When another body is found, it becomes clear Indianapolis has a serial killer on its streets . . . an untraceable predator who, Behr surmises, lives behind the chilling veil of a perfectly normal life. Behr’s pursuit threatens to become entangled in the official police investigation, and will lead him to a dark place—and ultimately to a devastating decision from which he will not be able to turn back.
     Signature Kill is a masterly novel, in which one man’s obsession with justice faces off against a killer’s all-consuming obsession with perfection.


From the Hardcover edition.