Snakes and Ladders (Ziba MacKenzie #3) by Victoria Selman
Genre: Psychological thriller, crime fiction, police procedural
Read: 17th February 2020
(publication date: 17th December 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
When I read the tagline
"Psycho meets Silence of the Lambs" I knew I just HAD to read this book! And wow...what can I say? It simply is...WOW!
SNAKES AND LADDERS is the third in the Ziba MacKenzie series, although I didn't know it at the time, but it reads well as a standalone. It was THAT good. There is enough background given throughout to ensure you don't miss out on anything. But be warned...once you start, you won't be able to stop and from there on in you then have a burning desire to get your hands on the other two books in the series and devour them in much the same way.
Ziba MacKenzie, who lost her husband Duncan in a shooting two years ago, is a profiler who specialises in serial killers on secondment to the FBI teaching at Quantico when she is called back to London to assist on a murder case. But not just any murder case. Someone is killing young homeless girls, mutilating their bodies and leaving behind various seemingly random items along with a single pink rose, earning him the moniker of the Pink Rose Killer. And word has reached Scotland Yard that there is to be another murder in two days' time.
While Scotland Yard has any number of profilers on their books able to assist police in their investigation, only Ziba can help. From his prison cell hundreds of miles from London, Vernon Sange (formerly Dr) holds the key to this latest mystery and he will help police on one condition - that he will only speak to Ziba.
Vernon Sange is a psychopath. But a very clever psychopath. Like Ziba, he profiles people, charms them, befriends them and even seduces them...to lure them into his trap. In his former life he was a successful university Don at Oxford, a doctor of philosophy, a lecturer, a teacher, a master, a murderer. It was Ziba's profile that lead police to him and an anonymous tip that sealed his fate during his trial. Now in his prison cell he is awaiting extradition to the US where he faces the death penalty.
Sange claims to know the identity of the PRK, and when and where the murders will take place. Ziba does not want to meet with Sange but knows, at this stage, police are out of options. And being so close to the next murder, if Sange knows anything and will only talk to her then she must see him and extricate any information she can from him. But that is easier said that done. Sange is a master. Ziba knows that as soon as he walks in Sange will be watching her. Looking for any reaction, even a flicker, that he can use to manipulate her. But Ziba resolves to give nothing away; she refuses to be played by him. But can she stop her subconscious from reacting? And can she outsmart Sange and get what she needs, never to return again?
But one thing is for sure...you can't outsmart a psychopath!
Faced with a deadly countdown, Ziba must get the answers needed to help catch the killer before he kills again. But for all his talk in her visit with him, does Sange actually ever tell her anything of use? At first, Ziba isn't so sure. But then she begins to piece some aspects together while others remain a mystery...earning her yet another long drive to the prison to see Sange once again.
While these visits are paramount to the investigation, Ziba dreads them...because Sange appears to read her effortlessly and he always wants something in return. His game is he will give her something if she gives him something first. But can she elude his mind games and figure out the clues on her own? And save the man she secretly loves?
Meanwhile in her private life, Ziba continues to grieve the loss of her husband two years ago. Although she misses Duncan, her friendship with his best friend journalist Jack Wolfe has grown into something more although she would never put Jack's life on the line by saying so. But somehow Sange knows even if Jack doesn't. And now Jack is in danger.
How does Sange know how she feels about Jack Wolfe? And why is Jack the only journalist the PRK writes to? While it is clearly Jack he sends these letters to, who is "O.D." to whom he addresses within them? And the code at the end of each letter...what do they mean? Is Sange involved more than they know?
So many questions throughout will have your head spinning that you won't want to put it down! As the truth begins to emerge piece by piece, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. Everything is smoke and mirrors. Mind games at its best!
SNAKES AND LADDERS is a well-crafted, well-plotted, brilliantly told murder mystery thriller that had me turning pages long into the night! I loved the short snappy chapters that kept the pace moving at a break-neck speed throughout.
I absolutely loved the dry wit peppered throughout the story. Ziba's thoughts on Fingerling as he sneered his comments at her had me chuckling on more than one occasion. Her passing thoughts on the weather even. If it didn't thrill, it made me laugh. Everything I love in a book.
Every character in the story is well developed and each has their part to play. None of them are insignificant or surplus to the tale. Victoria Selman has weaved each them into her web seamlessly leaving nothing to chance. Even one of the most likable characters with whom Ziba connected to wasn't by chance. And when that final plot twist came at the end, it was both shocking and brilliant!
While I haven't read the first two in the series, unaware at the time of requesting that this was a third installment,
SNAKES AND LADDERS is everything I love in a thriller - fast paced, twisty, compelling, intriguing, witty and utterly unputdownable.
While it's always best to start a series from the beginning, I don't think it's essential to enjoy
SNAKES AND LADDERS, as it flows seamlessly throughout with enough background given to know what is going on. I know I enjoyed it immensely without reading the first two...but let it be known, I have now added the first two to my collection and look forward to sneaking them into my reading list sometime soon. I suspect this is going to be one of my favourite series. Criminal Minds meets Psycho meets Silence of the Lambs.
That brilliant ending has me longing for the fourth installment now with that twist of a cliffhanger that leaves us wondering where the story goes from here...and that dawn of realisation that hit Ziba as she heard the news...I wasn't surprised, but she most definitely was. In the end, that final piece suddenly made sense to me and left me wanting more. Hands down brilliant!
Bring on book #4!!
I would like to thank
#VictoriaSelman,
#NetGalley and
#AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of
#SnakesAndLadders in exchange for an honest review.
