HEART OF THE HUNTERS: SHADOW HEART BY MEG GARDINER

Shadow Heart is the latest in Meg Gardiner's UNSUB series, featuring FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix. The series is one of those great examples of cinematic writing. Michael Mann chose Meg to put his sequel to Heat on the page. Now back to her own character and world, she continues to run fast and deliberate.

This time Caitlin contends with two killers. One is already behind bars. Judah Goode was arrested in Tennessee for three bodies in his motel and one in his car. He pleaded innocent on those but admitted to thirteen others he murdered, When Caitlin catched a a case with similar M.O., but in New York. She soon begins to think this is more than just copy cat work and strives to find the connection with the help of a woman who claims to be the daughter of one of Judah's victims.

The book demonstrates Gardiner's mastery of the procedural. She ties true crime history to her fictional world, grounding it and giving us a clear understanding of how Caitlin works. We clearly get a step by step method of how she brings an unknown subject into the light and hunts them down and weaves in several strong reveals and twists in to create a relentless forward momentum.She also depicts a vivid workplace society with Caitlin and her UBI crew.

At the center of it all is a a protagonist we care about. Shadow Heart reintroduces us to Caitlin in a more domestic and happier setting with ATF agent Sean and his daughter before she goes on the hunt. She sets the stakes in her the life she has built that can be a threat to her life or psyche. We worry about her when she thinks about her father who was broken by his obsession to catch an unsub. Caitlin Hendrix is a heroine both capable and human and Meg Gardiner once again gives her.a case worthy of her.