Move over, Hannibal Lecter. The Sandman is coming, and he"s going to knock you off your perch as the world"s creepiest and smartest serial killer. Chris Mooney"s nail-biting, scarifying debut thriller features a fully drawn protagonist in former FBI profiler Jack Casey, whose life was shattered when another madman killed his pregnant wife before his eyes. Now Jack"s a local cop on a small-town beat in Marblehead, Massachusetts, rebuilding his life with the help of a beautiful woman and a community of caring friends. But when a psychopath who seems to know everything about Jack"s past as well as his present starts torturing and killing entire families in the quiet Boston suburb and then trapping his pursuers by blowing them up at the scene, Casey begins to wonder where the man the media dubbed the Sandman is getting his inside information. Is there a conspiracy at the highest levels of federal intelligence to cover up a behavioral experiment gone wrong? What"s the connection between an unsolved arson at a Massachusetts home for troubled boys and the Sandman"s choice of victims? And where does another ex-profiler fit in? He seems to know as much as the Sandman and offers Jack his help in solving the awful crimes. The most important question may be whether Anthony Hopkins is available for another leading role as a psychopath. But don"t wait for the inevitable big-screen treatment. Grab this bloody, violent, and mesmerizing study of psychological terror and the redemptive power of love before they call the casting director. Just don"t read it on a stormy night when you"re home alone. --Jane Adams