78 DEGREES AND BLOODY

In Prior’s thriller, a lone detective tracks a disturbed killer on the loose in Los Angeles.

Two people are brutally murdered in their house in Los Angeles. One of the victims, Baby G, works handling luggage at an airport; the other is his girlfriend Bicha, an influencer with a large TikTok following and some success writing poetry. Baby G was not involved in a criminal group, but he was a minor drug dealer and had recently stolen several bars of gold, making him a target for the killer, a man named Brooks. Casey Stafford is assigned to the case, working with his partner Banchet Suwan as Brooks murders more people, desperately trying to cover up his tracks. Even worse, as the killer indulges in drugs, his bloodlust and his craving for perverse violence grow. As Stafford continues his investigation, Bicha’s grandmother, who has connections to the Mexican Mafia, commands Bicha’s cousin and high-ranking mob member El Duende to find and kill her murderer. Stafford will have to work fast to find the killer before a Mexican hit man administers a different kind of justice. Prior has crafted an excellent thriller in this debut, which boasts a fast pace, unexpected twists and turns, and a compelling villain in Brooks. (His character is convincingly nefarious, particularly when taking pictures of women he’s killed for his own pleasure.) The crackling prose highlights the severity of the stakes in passages such as, “Brooks swung the gun at her. She saw it coming, ducked, the barrel grazed off her head, cutting her but not dazing her, and she hit him again in the face with her fist.” Stafford is a worthy hero, proving himself as a detective as he unravels the mystery and holds his own against dangerous criminals.  

An exhilarating thriller.