Hunters and Gatherers: A Novel of Psychological Suspense

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Writing

Department

Creative Writing

First Advisor

Michael Castro

Second Advisor

Beth Mead

Third Advisor

Harry Jackson

Abstract

Connor Lopez has always been a survivor. He survived the childhood loss of his parents, protecting himself and his little brother from the rigors of a Catholic orphanage. He survived a serious wound in an early battle in the war against terrorism. But when he discovers his brother Sean is the serial killer operating along the St. Louis riverfront, Connor must relearn what he thought he knew of survival.

Connor quits graduate school, where he'd been studying to be a psychologist. How could he help strangers when he couldn't even save his own flesh and blood? He scrounges a living as a freelance graphic designer, working out of his quiet loft apartment and trying to reassemble the mirror of his life.

His recovery is interrupted when he's drawn accidentally into the cycle of a new killer working in the city. Detective Otis Stokes-the man who shot and killed Sean-reluctantly comes to Connor with horrific details of the new murders. Connor resists involvement, but he can read things, in the cleverly concealed clues the killer leaves behind. Things that return him to the dark and violent past he shared with Sean.

They don't know it, but the man Connor joins Stokes in hunting for is named Damon Gaspar. He doesn't know Connor. He knows only The Way, the primal, omniscient flow he feels thrumming through him, rewarding him when he feeds it with the only thing The Way requires. Death.

Damon charts a twisting course along The Way, and will reach four great waypoints before he completes his perfect circle. He marks his progress with tiny clues. Baffling both local police and the FBI, Connor keeps finding them. They will lead him to Damon's path along The Way, and to a confrontation only one of them can survive.

Comments

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