“The Postcard Killers”  

By James Patterson & Liza Marklund

Review #185

Jacob Kanon has taken a leave of absence from his NYPD job to track down the "Postcard Killers" who have been leaving a trail of bodies throughout Europe, including Jacob’s own daughter, Kimmy and her boyfriend.  The killers, known to the reader, select couples in love and get close enough to drug and kill them before leaving their bodies in a pose reminiscent of the country's most famous artwork. They advertise their presence in a country by sending a postcard to someone in the media before the killing and follow it with a Polaroid of the dead bodies.

Dessie Larsson, a journalist for Aftonposten in Stockholm, has just received such a postcard and so, Jacob tracks her down and enlists her help in his investigation. Unwashed and smelling, she doesn't trust him at first but eventually they become a team (both personal and professional).  By researching all the murders, Dessie is able to identify the artwork theme, long before the police. An unexpected twist in the actions of the killers sets the story in a different direction and in the final section, one of the iconic IKEA stores plays an important role in the final confrontation between the good and bad guys.

There are some surprises in this book as should be expected from Patterson.