Blood Ties by Nicholas Guild
5 stars
(Excerpt from Goodreads) Homicide detective Ellen Ridley of the SFPD is tracking a serial killer terrorizing young women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ridley is sure she’s cornered her most likely suspect: Stephen Tregear, a hacker and code breaker who works for U.S. Naval Intelligence. But Tregear is not the killer… he’s the killer’s son.
Ridley and Tregear team up to look for Tregear’s father, Walter, in an elaborate game of murderous cat and mouse. As the body count rises, Ridley must race against the clock to stop Walter before he kills any more women–and Tregear must finally confront the father who has been trying to kill him for twenty years. Blood Ties is an elegant and frightening thriller from Nicholas Guild.
Ellen is on the case of a serial killers that inflicts pain on his victims then dumps their bodies. With the help of her partner Sam, they both learn as this killer keeps them on their feet with no evidence left behind. Ellen then things she has found the killer but when she confronts Stephen she learns that it is really his father, Walter.
Stephen goes on to tell her about his poor family life. But when he finds a body in his father’s car he finds some of his mother’s belongings and goes on the run. Several years later he is living with some people that basically raised him when he returns home to find them brutally murdered. Trying to hide from his father he goes into the Navy.
Ellen, Sam, and Stephen must work together to stop Walter. Things take a turn for the worse when they learn there is a lot more than Walter hunting Stephen down, he may have had help all along.
This is an amazing story. Although you learn shortly into the book that the killer is Stephen’s dad, that in no way stops the story, it makes it all the better. You can’t help but feel sorry for Stephen. He is wrapped up in guilt about leaving the woman’s body when he was 12 but you can understand why. And Walter, major creepy.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t want to put it down and I just couldn’t wait to see what happened next. This is a great thriller that needs to be in everyone’s collection. Make sure to get Blood Ties.
For more information on Blood Ties or to purchase the book make sure to check out Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Nicholas Guild’s website.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
jbronderbookreviews 