The Fifth to Die

J. D. Barker

Jul 2018 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.

Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days.

While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.

Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.

Ratings and reviews

sequel to the fourth monkey excellent read... truly mind blowing reveals and twists... then leaves you hanging! I'm kind of upset! I mean at least warn a person if you didn't finish your book so they can decide to read it now or wait for the 3rd book. very unfair.

This is a cleverly written complex story following the first in this series ... THE FOURTH MONKEY. Detective Sam Porter and his team are called to investigate when the body of a young girl is found beneath frozen water. She's identified as a woman who went missing 3 weeks ago ,, but she's wearing the clothes of another girl, missing just days. The water froze months ago..so how did this happen? At the same time, Porter is secretly still hunting the Four Monkey Killer, contrary to the orders of the FBI. When Porter's boss finds out what he's been doing, he is promptly suspended and his partners Clair and Nash are left to hunt for the new killer. This one is action-packed, fast-paced with lots of activity going in all directions. I highly recommend reading THE FOURTH MONKEY before tackling this one .... the two stories are intertwined. The characters are credible, the crimes are credible and it's a fascinating look at crime fiction. It's a riveting, engaging story and I found it hard to put down for any amount of time. Many thanks to the author / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / #TheFifthToDie #NetGalley / Edelweiss for the advanced digital copy of this crime thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Fast-paced, gripping thriller. He puts you right in the action!

About the author

J.D. BARKER is the internationally best-selling author of Forsaken, a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, and winner of the New Apple Medalist Award. His work has been compared to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Thomas Harris. His 4MK Thrillers, The Fourth Monkey and The Fifth to Die, were released in June 2017 and June 2018 respectively. He has been asked by the Stoker family to coauthor the forthcoming prequel to Dracula due out in fall 2018. His novels have been translated into numerous languages and optioned for both film and television. Barker currently resides in Pennsylvania with his wife, Dayna, and their two dogs, both of whom sit outside his office door daily, eagerly awaiting his next novel.