Thursday, April 4, 2019

Murder Theory

Title: Murder Theory
Author: Andrew Mayne
Published: February 5th 2019 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Paperback, 318 pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: The Naturalist #3

When I read a book in the Naturalist series, I find myself not caring if the science is accurate since that is not what I am here for. Though presented in a believable and captivating way, science is only a small part of what draws me into the dark and twisted world of Dr. Theo Cray.

Dr. Cray is a computational biologist, which is the science of using data to understand biological systems and relationships. In other words, the woo-woo that brings out-there ideas together and leave us normal people scratching our heads. More than once, you will find yourself rereading sections as if studying for a final only to remind yourself that this is a book of fiction and that there will not be a quiz at the end.

As Theo continues to reel from his last encounter with the Toy Man, we now find him in his government-funded lab tasked with developing technology that will determine if a “terrorist gene,” exists. Thinking that this is pseudo-science at best, he will continue the charade if the government wants to fund this rabbit hole, but since there are others with their own agendas to do the work, it will leave him time for his specialized research projects.

His curiosity has peeked when technicians working on samples from the Toy Man case are dying or missing. A situation where normal stressors are turning some into killers. This is forcing Theo to revisit the location of his waking nightmare, but only his skills will be able to bring an end to this terror. An end that will involve discovering if there are more killers in the making, who the puppet master is, how is he creating these killing machines, and what is the end-game of this inhumane experiment.

Andrew Mayne’s books build on each other. Though there are some that say his books can be read as a stand-alone, I disagree. You need to know who Theo Cray is. The first book fleshes out his quirkiness, the second book makes him more human, and this most recent book brings the man into full focus.

1 comment:

shelleyrae @ book'd out said...

It sounds interesting thanks for sharing your thoughts:’