The Killing House by Chris Mooney

Chris Mooney’s Killing House follows Malcolm Fletcher’s investigation into a missing child. The book starts with a woman, Theresa, answering a call from her son, Rico, who has been missing for four years. Things go downhill as you find out her son has been held captive by a strange woman, who appears in Theresa’s doorway after the phone call. You also find out that Theresa’s husband is tied up on their bed. Enter Malcolm Fletcher, a former FBI profiler and fugitive, who has been hired by long term friend, Karim, to look into Rico’s disappearance. The story then follows Fletcher as he investigates the disappearance.

Chris Mooney has quite a free flowing style which makes The Killing House easy to read; though it is not a book for the faint of heart! Malcolm Fletcher is a likeable, well rounded character (albeit a little too good to be true at times) and Mooney drip feeds information about him and his background. There are quite a few twists to the story, some very believable, others not so much. Mooney does manage to maintain a good pace within the story so there is little chance of the reader being bored. He leaves clues for future twists, which, personally, I like, as it gives me as a reader a chance to work out whodunit! (Quite a rare skill)

The ‘bad guy’ in the book is not as believable as the hero. I’m not sure whether Mooney had a clear idea in his head for her. I found her very two dimensional and felt, on occasions, the character’s actions were to shock the reader not necessarily to enhance or continue the plot. Having said that, I didn’t like her, so Mooney must have done something right with her!

All in all, The Killing House is worth reading, if you like psychological thrillers.