Double Visions by Matt Drabble

This book sort of falls between two genres melding a supernatural tale with a more straightforward thriller - well, as straightforward as any serial killer tale can be said to be.  It was moderately successful in bridging the gap between the two but just seemed to have something missing.  One of the most jarring things was British police carrying guns, simply doesn't happen, and for a story set in the UK and written by a British author this annoyed me.

The supernatural elements of the story centre around Jane Parks, a psychic who was instrumental in capturing The Crucifier.  Now, 8 years later he seems to be back and terrorising the same small English town.  Unfortunately for Jane his victims seek her out to get their justice and it seems that The Crucifier also has a link to her.  Jane's sections are actually quite well written and have been thought through.  She is a sympathetic character and there are definitely "legs" to a series of stories featuring her.

The real problems come from the Police procedural sections.  The author's research seems to have come from watching TV shows, mainly American, rather than actually speaking to anyone even peripherally associated with the police.  Detective Meyers Junior is a reasonably strong character but never really comes alive on the page; there's always something missing about him and he does seem to be defined by his sense of duty and his sexuality.

Unfortunately, as things progress and the body count rises I did find myself losing interest in finding out who was behind this latest spate of murders.  This was mainly because it felt like a series of set pieces bolted together and each murder grows gradually more gruesome.  I voluntarily read Richard Laymon so gruesome isn't an issue for me but when it is merely there as an intention to shock it grates; regrettably that is how this book felt.

Enjoyable enough but there were just too many ideas battling for page space to satisfactorily explore any of them.  Nice twist to the identity of The Crucifier but the final showdown is cluttered and has some gaping holes in it's execution.