A COLD MIND

by David L. Lindsey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1983

Psycho-killings in Houston--in a solid, literate thriller with one extra grabber: the murderer's truly creepy modus operandi. ""You think there's a Typhoid Harry out there in the cement jungle giving our little hometown girls pneumonia?"" That's the question for Houston homicide cop Stuart Haydon--an independently wealthy, young-ishly neurotic sort--when a couple of top call-girls turn up strangely dead. . . soon after coming down with some kind of ""flu."" Then, while Haydon relentlessly investigates (talking to prostitutes, hashing out the odd autopsy evidence, uncovering a Brazilian white-slavery operation), more girls die at the hands of the cold-minded killer--whom we soon see in action, ritualistically spraying his chosen bedmate with a lethal perfume. The poison? Rabies. And by the time that Haydon and his resident Quincys have figured out that all these women ""died like common mad dogs,"" novelist Lindsey has revealed the identity of the killer: he's Rafael Guimaraes, a handsome young medical student (specializing in virological research), the nephew of the Brazilian call-girl-biz ringleader. But though the cops eventually close in on Rafael, getting a bit of psychopathological confirmation from his meal-school mentor (necrophilia's the diagnosis), their evidence is merely circumstantial. So Haydon must bait a trap for psycho Rafael--complete with plea-bargaining, prostitute/bait, and video-taping; yet even then some old-fashioned vengeance will be needed before justice triumphs. Disappointingly, Lindsey doesn't give Rafael the convincing psycho-characterization that made Thomas Harris' Red Dragon so powerful; nor does moody hero Haydon ever come into focus, despite some philosophical musings about the ""cold mind"" (suppressed emotion) he shares with the killer. Still, despite a shortage of genuine tension (just a few moments toward the end), this is absorbing, grisly yet tasteful crime-fiction--with leanly vivid Houston atmosphere, persuasive detailing, and a subtly ghoulish mood throughout.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION