THE MURDERERS' CLUB
P.D. Martin

Pan Macmillan Australia, This edition first published Nov 2006
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill

In cyber-space four people meet in a chat room. There’s nothing unusual in that except that these four are all serial killers and they have formed a club: THE MURDERERS’ CLUB. The purpose is to organise murders and enjoy their own and each others’ activities. With the exception of the president, they only know each other by their internet names: Black Widow, NeverCaught, DialM and AmericanPsycho.

Melbourne-born Sophie Anderson works at the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit as a profiler. Not only is she a gifted profiler, but Sophie has another gift, or is it a curse? She’s not sure. Unbeknown to everyone except her friend Darren Carter, Sophie occasionally has psychic dreams when working on cases. Darren is a homicide detective in Arizona and the two became friends when working together on a case that nearly cost Sophie her life.

When Darren invites Sophie to spend some of her vacation time with him, she accepts, thinking it will help her recover and come to terms with her “gift”. But only hours after Sophie’s arrival the body of a murdered woman is discovered on the local University Campus and she begins having more horrific dreams.

THE MURDERERS’ CLUB is a clever premise. It’s a book in two parts: the killers and the police. Initially the readers have the advantage, because we know something of the set up of the crimes. We learn about the killers and their individual personalities and quirks via their chat logs. It makes chilling reading.

As the investigation progresses, the gap between the readers’ knowledge and what the police know gradually narrows until the two converge and the case is solved. And that’s where much of the suspense in the book lies. While the reader is privy to the serial killer chat room conversations, we don’t know their identities. But it is possible to figure it out by putting together the two components of the story.

I’ll be honest here. I’m not a fan of supernatural/psychic themes in crime fiction, so it was with a great deal of trepidation that I began reading THE MURDERERS’ CLUB. I needn’t have worried. This isn’t a case of solving the crime by a blinding psychic vision. Sophie’s dreams serve as one of a number of resources she and Darren use to assist in solving the case. The dreams offer a direction in which to take the theories that are developed in the course of the investigation.

THE MURDERERS CLUB is P.D. Martin’s second novel in the series. While it would be helpful to read the books in order, there is enough information in THE MURDERERS’ CLUB for the reader to treat the book as a stand alone.

With Sophie gradually coming to terms with her psychic ability and learning to harness it rather than trying to ignore it, it is a series that has a lot of potential and may well gain many fans. If you’re one of the many who enjoy the TV show Medium then P.D. Martin’s books will be right up your alley.

Jan 2007 review originally published at Murder & Mayhem

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