Be careful before answering your next call. It could be the beginning of your worst nightmare.
After a tough week, Tanya Kaitlin is looking forward to a relaxing night in, but as she steps out of her shower, she hears her phone ring. The video call request comes from her best friend, Karen Ward. Tanya takes the call and the nightmare begins.
Detectives Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia are thrown into a rollercoaster of evil, chasing a predator who scouts the streets and social media networks for victims, taunting them with secret messages and feeding on their fear.
It's my pleasure to be sharing my review of The Caller as part of the ongoing Chris Carter blogathon organised by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers. Many thanks to to Tracy for inviting me and to Simon & Schuster for my digital copy of the novel. Please accept my apologies for being a day late with this review.
The Caller by Chris Carter is his eighth book featuring Detective Robert Hunter and is another dark and twisty thriller which can be enjoyed as a standalone or as part of the series. These books are not for the faint-hearted but while the descriptions of the horrors inflicted on the murder victims are unflinchingly graphic, most of the actual violence actually occurs off the page and so doesn't feel gratuitous. With Hunter and his partner, Garcia working for the LAPD's Ultra Violent Crimes Unit, the homicides they are called out to inevitably involve overwhelming brutality or sadism but in The Caller, Chris Carter also chillingly explores the dangers of social media, and how traumatised people respond to awful tragedies.
It's mentioned later in the book that there are two victims for every crime committed, even though only one actually dies a horribly painful death. The first instance of this takes place after Tanya Kaitlin accepts what she thinks is a video call from her friend, Karen Ward. The first thing she sees on her smartphone screen is a close-up of Karen's eyes but her friend isn't in control here and as the camera zooms out, Tanya realises Karen is bound to a kitchen chair, her mouth tightly gagged with a leather strap. A digitally altered voice then calmly explains the rules and that Tanya has the opportunity to secure her friend's life. All she has to do is answer two simple questions and Karen will be released. The questions are indeed straightforward enough but nevertheless, at least one will strike fear into the heart of most readers.
The deaths depicted in The Caller are horrendous but it's the psychological impact of the crimes committed which is arguably more disturbing. From the sense of unease evoked at the thought of being stalked through to sheer terror of discovering a person violating their homes, it's deeply unsettling to imagine the horror endured by the murder victims. However, this is really an examination into what bearing witness to such traumatic events can do to a person, particularly when they are made to feel in some way culpable. Chris Carter's empathetic portrayal of despair and guilt is powerfully affecting throughout this addictive thriller.
While most of the narrative follows Hunter and Garcia's desperate hunt for the killer, the scenes which reveal more about the victims' lives also help ratchet up the sense of tension. There is also an intriguing subplot which introduces a complex, morally ambiguous character with secrets of their own. Meanwhile, Hunter's personal life also features a little more here and I'm looking forward to seeing whether this is developed further as the series progresses.
Packed with Chris Carter's trademark cliffhanger chapter endings, The Caller is a gripping, gritty thriller which offers a thought-provoking consideration into loss, guilt and the nature of evil. I enjoyed it very much and can't wait to read the next instalment in this exciting, compulsive series.
The Caller is published by Simon and Schuster, purchasing links can be found here.
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