Author: | Medeas Wray | ISBN: | 9781311009821 |
Publisher: | Medeas Wray | Publication: | May 12, 2014 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | Medeas Wray |
ISBN: | 9781311009821 |
Publisher: | Medeas Wray |
Publication: | May 12, 2014 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
A hard-boiled crime thriller mystery: the first in The Eaters of Light series by the same author (books II and III due for publication end 2014), Down To Zero is set in the near-future London of 2018 and features seasoned investigators, Mallory Vine and her partner Bob Dario who work for a shadowy government department. That's the day job and it's murder.
One night by accident, they stumble upon an art-installation initiating a major investigation into an artist-celebrity named Battersby who's been hiding the evidence of a decade-old serial-killing spree through the art-works he sells to an A-list clientele. How he's managed to get away with it for so long is beyond belief. They start to think that he must have had some kind of help from within the security services themselves and as the story unfolds they discover evidence of kidnap and possibly blackmail.
They cover all the angles on that particular case, find out more and more about Battersby and his misdeeds as time moves on and are assigned to another case, investigating an individual called De Witte, also a serial psychopath but one who makes Battersby's MO seem considerate. Brattish, haughty, deathly and deadly attractive, De Witte is an antagonist with some very strange social and physical attributes.
As the assignment on De Witte progresses, the two detectives discover links to the Paris of 1895 and to the work of a psychologist named Professor Milles, once a highly respected academic though latterly in his career, decried by the rest of the psychology fraterrnity as a charlatan and para-psychologist.
One of his case-subjects seems to have borne a striking resemblance to De Witte and the two detectives are studying the similarities when new evidence emerges about Battersby - linking the investigation to contemporary Mexico, the scene of what looks like Battersby's first murder.
As the investigation unfolds the two detectives start to uncover evidence that's beyond their own belief, something beyond their own experience and training: indisputable proof of the paranormal at work, pointing towards a cover-up going on throughout the 20th century as the rule of science took hold and all other evidence was hidden under the carpet of a new kind of superstition: the blanket of rationalism. Their work eventually starts to rock the very foundations of the investigative culture world-wide, Professor Milles' reputation as a researcher of integrity is re-established and in the future, serial-psychopaths are put under the harsh light of a new kind of scrutiny as what is called Milles' Syndrome becomes generally accepted.
For Mallory Vine especially, it's been something of a personal journey as she discovers from the archives of the department she works for, papers that could have only been written by her father, papers that prove that there he was, before her, doing similar work to her in the past. His own secret history.
A hard-boiled crime thriller mystery: the first in The Eaters of Light series by the same author (books II and III due for publication end 2014), Down To Zero is set in the near-future London of 2018 and features seasoned investigators, Mallory Vine and her partner Bob Dario who work for a shadowy government department. That's the day job and it's murder.
One night by accident, they stumble upon an art-installation initiating a major investigation into an artist-celebrity named Battersby who's been hiding the evidence of a decade-old serial-killing spree through the art-works he sells to an A-list clientele. How he's managed to get away with it for so long is beyond belief. They start to think that he must have had some kind of help from within the security services themselves and as the story unfolds they discover evidence of kidnap and possibly blackmail.
They cover all the angles on that particular case, find out more and more about Battersby and his misdeeds as time moves on and are assigned to another case, investigating an individual called De Witte, also a serial psychopath but one who makes Battersby's MO seem considerate. Brattish, haughty, deathly and deadly attractive, De Witte is an antagonist with some very strange social and physical attributes.
As the assignment on De Witte progresses, the two detectives discover links to the Paris of 1895 and to the work of a psychologist named Professor Milles, once a highly respected academic though latterly in his career, decried by the rest of the psychology fraterrnity as a charlatan and para-psychologist.
One of his case-subjects seems to have borne a striking resemblance to De Witte and the two detectives are studying the similarities when new evidence emerges about Battersby - linking the investigation to contemporary Mexico, the scene of what looks like Battersby's first murder.
As the investigation unfolds the two detectives start to uncover evidence that's beyond their own belief, something beyond their own experience and training: indisputable proof of the paranormal at work, pointing towards a cover-up going on throughout the 20th century as the rule of science took hold and all other evidence was hidden under the carpet of a new kind of superstition: the blanket of rationalism. Their work eventually starts to rock the very foundations of the investigative culture world-wide, Professor Milles' reputation as a researcher of integrity is re-established and in the future, serial-psychopaths are put under the harsh light of a new kind of scrutiny as what is called Milles' Syndrome becomes generally accepted.
For Mallory Vine especially, it's been something of a personal journey as she discovers from the archives of the department she works for, papers that could have only been written by her father, papers that prove that there he was, before her, doing similar work to her in the past. His own secret history.