Traveler - Softcover

As a jaded detective at the Miami Police Department, Mercedes Barren isn't phased by much. That is, until a late-night phone call awakens her from one nightmare and catapults her into another: her niece has been murdered. Within days, Detective Barren has a surly Islamic fundamentalist in custody cutting a plea bargain--for a series of murders. As much as she would like to believe he murdered her niece, instinct tells her otherwise. Enter Douglas Jeffers, a disgruntled photojournalist who's seen one too many killers, courtrooms, and shredded cadavers. His mission? To commit a series of "copy cat" murders with a twist: he's forcing a young English major to document his journey. Barren catches on, Jeffers's brother (a psychiatrist who specializes in sexual offenders, of course) gets involved, and the motley cast races to a hypertension-inducing finish. Not recommended for those with delicate sensibilities, The Traveler casually throws out descriptions of mutilated organs and vicious assaults with the bored ease of a maître d'. Although it has a tendency to veer into melodrama, the caffeinated cadence and memorable one-liners make for a respectable beach read: "Killers were the Kleenex of the drug industry; they were used a few times and then discarded unceremoniously." --Rebekah Warren

"A powerful, obsessive novel of murder and madness. . . . The reader is swept along by the ever-mounting horror and by characters who burn with life. . . . The Traveler is more than entertainment. It is fast moving, violent, and suspenseful."—New York Times Book Review

"Daring and admirable . . . it's rare to find a suspense novel with the scope of well-crafted fiction. . . . The Traveler [is] compulsive reading."—Chicago Tribune

"The Traveler is a full-blooded psychological thriller. . . . Katzenbach's attention to detail and his superb descriptive abilities make the book sizzle and crack with tension. The story sweeps to a genuinely shattering climax in a scene of devastating horror and suspense."—Washington Times Sunday Magazine

"This muscular scary book seizes your interest rather than asks for it, and plunges you into the nightmare world of a crazed psychopath. . . . High-voltage crime drama."—Baltimore Daily Record

"A complex story of murder and revenge. . . . It generates nail-biting suspense."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"Gripping. . . . Katzenbach has the touch of a master."—Milwaukee Sentinel