PANIC ATTACK

A professional-style execution in front of 20,000 witnesses kicks off a sixth walk on the wild side for Pittsburgh psychologist Daniel Rinaldi.

The Teasdale Tiger, the beloved mascot of Teasdale College, is shot and killed as Rinaldi, college dean Martin Hobbs, and thousands of football fans look on. The only apparent flaw in the sniper’s crime is that the man inside the tiger costume isn’t Jason Graham, the usual mascot, but Lucas Hartley, who paid Jason $500 to let him take his place to impress his girlfriend. Sgt. Harry Polk, of the Pittsburgh police, has hardly time to wonder whether the wrong man was killed when the sniper changes venues to murder bookkeeper Harriet Parr, attorney Peter Steinman, city councilman Gary Landrew, physician Francis Mapes, and then, in an act that would be more shocking if readers weren’t already numb, Martin Hobbs. Invited to join the task force trying to figure out whether these victims have anything in common that would allow the police to predict the Steel City Sniper’s next move and then abruptly terminated over his relationship with assistant dean Indra Bishara, who seems to be competing with her well-connected ex-husband, William Reynolds III, over which of them can behave worse, Danny, “who ain’t on the job but acts like he is,” persists in working the case even as every suspect in the task force’s lineup turns into the next victim. The discovery that most of the deceased were members of the De Gobineau Society darkens the mystery without resolving it; only a ticking-clock showdown will do that.

A high-casualty quest to identify a killer who can’t help being a disappointment.