Up Close and Fatal – Fergus McNeil
On the road. With a serial killer.
It begins with a list of names – past and future victims. When struggling reporter Tom Pritchard receives it in the mail, he’s scared, though he knows this could be the story he needs to save his career.
Especially if he can help the police to catch the killer.
But this isn’t a typical murderer. This is someone patient and ruthless, someone who’s been planning for years. Soon, the tables are turned and Tom finds himself trapped on a terrifying road trip across the US, racing from victim to victim. His only hope of saving his family is to understand the killer but, to do that, he’ll need to be close. And although he doesn’t know it yet, that’s exactly where the killer wants him to be.
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to host this leg of the tour. I am reviewing my purchased copy of Up Close and Fatal.
Tom Pritchard is an English journalist working in the US. He has had some success but the opportunties are not coming thick and fast and he has seperated from his partner who now looks after their five-year old son. Tom isn’t in a great position and his life is going to become so much more complicated.
Tom arrives home to find a strange letter. Inside is a list. Numbered one to ten. But just three names on the list (points four, six and nine). The other seven points are blank and at the foot of the list is a single word: WAIT. Ever inquisitive Tom opens a search engine and looks up one of the names – a murder victim. Both the other names on the incomplete list match murder victims too but Tom cannot see any link between the three.
Wait was the instruction and Tom soon recieves a further communication. A telephone call from someone who asks if Tom recieved his letter. This call offers Tom the opportunity to write the biggest story of his career but he has to be prepared for everything that comes with accepting the challenge. The Killer (for it is a serial killer that has reached out to Tom to write his story) wants Tom to meet and dicuss the list and the background to the names on the list.
Tom realises he has an opportunity to help catch a killer if he agrees to the meeting. He enlists the help of a friend in the police force and when the time of the meeting draws near Tom is fully tracked, followed and supported by a team of officers. However the killer is far smarter than any of them suspected and all does not go to plan. When Tom’s guard is down the killer pounces and Tom finds himself travelling across country, captive to a man determined to bring his series of killings to its conclusion. And Tom has front row seats to the last murders which will complete that list of names.
Fergus McNeil has given us a serial killer road trip and it is a hell of a ride. Tom is brilliantly realised and he faces a real dilemma over his continued participation in the project his captive outlines. The killer is also wonderfully depicted by the author – he is the key to the whole story and also displays a full range of emotions as his story is told. Two very different characters and each get a turn in the spotlight as the author balances their contribution to this story.
It’s unusual to see a story putting the killer and the “hero” of the book together for so much of action. Yet Fergus McNeil makes it work. Both characters are motivated by their own agenda and though they are going to the same place (even if Tom does not know where this is) each has a different plan for how their trip will end. Unfortuantely for Tom his travelling companion has had a long time to prepare and he has left nothing to chance. Unfortunately for the killer – well you know what they say about the best laid plans…
I breezed through this fast paced thriller in just two day – highly recommended.
Up Close and Fatal is available in paperback and digital format and can be bought here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09WXNDCF1/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
