The Pawn
Patrick Bowers Series, No. 1

By Steven James

    Dr. Patrick Bowers is unique among FBI agents.  He has developed a new science: , environmental criminology.  By using special software he created, Dr. Bowers can map the time and place of the crime, factor in environmental conditions at the time of the crime, and find the criminal sooner than he could with profiling.  In fact, Bowers doesn’t put much stock in profiling at all.  That attitude didn’t endear him to the profilers he had to work with.
 
Called to North Carolina from Denver, Bowers had to catch a diabolical serial killer, who preyed on young women.  With each victim, he left two items; : a hand carved wooden white pawn and a possession from his next victim.  However, two victims fell outside the area and the profile of the rest.  In addition to finding a second, copycat killer, Dr. Bowers had to figure out how these murders were connected to the copycat killings, the governor of North Carolina, and the massacre at Jonestown.  Somehow, Bowers had a gut feeling that the two killers knew each other.  Something big was planned, and the murders were a distraction for the police.
 
The Pawn is a real page-turner.  The writing style gets you hooked at the beginning and keeps you hooked until the last word.  There is no break in the action as Bowers goes from one killing to another and back again as evidence and victims pile up.  Neither is there a break in the tension, especially when Bowers’ stepdaughter, Tessa, was threatened. 
 
The characters are all human, even those committing inhuman acts.  Under circumstances that would break lesser people, Patrick and Tessa prop each other up and begin to draw closer together.  Read The Pawn.  Then, wait for more from Steven James.