The Murder Artist (2004)




A father races against the clock to save his six year old twins from a maniacal killer.

            As a television news correspondent, Alex Callahan has seen more than his share of blood and death, and he knows what it means to be afraid.  What he’s never known is the stark terror that grabs him on a tranquil summer afternoon when he ceases to be an observer of the dark side, and instead becomes enmeshed in it.

            Separated from his wife and son, and struggling not to become a stranger to his six-year-old twin sons, Alex is logging some all-too-rare quality time with the boys when they vanish without a trace amid the hurly burly of a countryside Renaissance Fair.

             Then the phone call.  The slow steady breathing,and the familiar plaintive voice---“Daddy?”

             When at last tell-tale signs reveal a hidden pattern of ghoulish and bizarre abductions, Alex quits his job, vowing to use his  investigative skills to rescue his children from the shadowy figure dubbed ‘The Piper.’  Whoever this elusive stranger is, the profile that slowly emerges suggests a twisted soul bent on fulfilling an unspeakably dark dream.  Not just a killer, Alex realizes,  but a murder artist---with Alex’s boys scheduled to star in the artful spectacle of their own deaths.

Reviews:

"A parent’s worst nightmare is realized in Case’s expertly written new thriller. Case’s pace reaches a fever pitch...(when) Alex... teams up with a local albino sleuth and ends up on the doorstep of a witchdoctor who insists on a nightmarish rebirthing ritual before he’ll break his silence on the killer.  Northern and Southern California provide the final backdrops for a harrowing conclusion that will leave readers breathless.  A long and winding narrative that’s impossible to put down, this is another work of superior suspense from the author of The Genesis Code." - Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

"Brisk prose, a breathtaking plot, and realistic characters drive this gripping thriller to an unexpected and satisfying end.  Another winner from Case (The Eighth Day) that will satisfy fans of Jeffery Deaver and Michael Connolly." - Library Journal

"However sensitive the matter in real life, child abduction can loom as a canard when the subject of a thriller.  But the pseudonymous Case (The Eighth Day, etc.) rips into the topic as if it’s never been used before.   Jaded readers will snap to attention when reporter Alex Callahan returns home to find shiver-inducing clues---a bowl of water, an origami rabbit, a row of Mercury dimes---in the bedroom of his six-year-old twins, who’ve just been kidnapped….  It’s all in the telling and Case does it just right:  no clue, moment, or character unturned." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Fans will be stunned by the level of tension that grows to an unbelievable crescendo in what is going to be recognized as one of the best thrillers of the year." - Harriet Klausner
Links:

'I Have Seen the Indian Rope Trick' by Harry Price

I have seen the Indian Rope Trick. At least, I have seen a clever representation of that great illusion which has intrigued newspaper correspondents for so many years. The performer of the Trick was Karachi, assisted by his diminutive son Kyder, aged eleven.

Before I proceed further, I had better describe the Rope Trick of tradition. There are many versions, but the story which makes its perennial appearance in the Press is more or less as follows: a fakir, dressed in flowing garments, and accompanied by one or more assistants, selects a site for the Trick and proceeds to collect a crowd, which he carefully places. The performer takes a long rope, uncoils it, swings it round his head and lets the free end soar skywards-where it remains. With words which sound like imprecations, he commands a frightened-looking youngster to climb the rope. The boy obeys and disappears into the clouds. With a knife between his teeth the fakir follows the boy, disappears, and a few moments later, to the accompaniment of ear-piercing screams, the horrified spectators see pieces of boy, mutilated and gory, tumbling out of the blue. When the shock of the 'tragedy' is at its height, they are amazed to see the fakir re-coiling his rope, at the same time as the 'victim' is found at the back of the crowd, begging for baksheesh. That is the traditional Rope Trick, stripped of its trimmings.
http://www.harryprice.co.uk/Famous%20Cases/ropetrickbyharryprice.htm

Voodoo: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/voodoo

http://www.vodoun.com

Origami:

An intricate origami rabbit left on the dresser of Alex Callahan’s abducted children serves as an important clue in the book. Here are a couple of links:
 
http://www.origami.as/Info/ungulate.php

http://www.origami.as (click on an illustration or gallery)


The Magic Castle

Magic: 

While doing research for The Murder Artist, we thought we ought to learn at least one good solid card trick.  Exploring the notion, we learned about a really impressive trick, the secret of which could be purchased.  So we sent off and ordered it from a magic supply shop.  Reading the opening line of the instruction booklet caused much hysteria on the part of the authors (and instant abandonment of the notion of learning the trick):  “Begin,” noted the instructions, “with a deceptive but simple Erdnase False Shuffle.”  As the research phase of the book progressed, we learned that most magicians start as children, because only children have the patience to endure the endless practice necessary to perform magic.

For dinner and a show at the wonderful Magic Castle in Hollywood, (www.themagiccastle.com) you have to be a magician or be the guest of a magician.  It is possible to satisfy this requirement by joining the Society of American Magicians (http://www.magicsam.com/), after which you will be a card-carrying sorcerer.

For a truly mind-blowing read, seek out the book Net of Magic, by Lee Siegel.

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