Nightmare Man

The third Tom Deaton novel is dark and pulpy, with a full-tilt plot, the complete ensemble of previous series characters and a memorable antagonist who is the stuff of nightmares.

           Earlon "Snack" Harris earned his nickname when a Rotty named T-Bone interrupted Harris' attack on his owner by sampling his fingers, toes, and testicles. Newly-released from a ten-year sentence for armed robbery and assault, Harris is ready to begin a new life with the woman he loves . . . just as soon as he finishes wreaking vengeance on each and every one of those he holds responsible for his extended trip to San Quentin. Harris is a psychopath with a 145 IQ, a grammar school education, and a passionate devotion to an idol and guide he knows only as Loyal, a man whose words stimulate him sexually and motivate him to commit pitiless, violent murders that he considers both amusing and creative.

           When Harris' responsibility for the growing list of murders becomes clear, he goes to ground, holing up in a fleabag hotel in downtown L.A. How can Tom, Chief Chris Dietrich and their counterparts in the LAPD lure Harris from his hiding place? By identifying the elusive Loyal and bringing him to the City of the Angels.

           Hunting Harris is the last thing that Tom had hoped to do. However, when Harris comes after his girlfriend, Sarah Ritter, as well as his friend and superior, Chris Dietrich, the hunt is on, a hunt that culminates in a chase through the Angeles National Forest, down the side of Mt. Wilson, amid the detonation of incendiary bombs that threaten to crush Tom in an avalanche of smoke, fire, and stone.

           The tidal wave of cruelty created by this man, described by Tom as "a nightmare to last a lifetime," cannot end until they meet in a final, bloody confrontation.