The Bishop by Steven James

Summary:

 
"The game is on.

FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers's cutting-edge skills are about to be pushed to the limit when a young woman is found brutally murdered in Washington DC. Her killers continue a spree of perfect crimes in the Northeast, but with nothing to link them to each other, Agent Bowers faces his most difficult case yet--even as his personal life begins to crumble around him.
The Bishop is a gripping, adrenaline-laced story for readers who are tired of timid thrillers. Strap on your seat belt and get ready for a wild ride."

  
My Thoughts:  Last summer, I reviewed Steven James third book in The Bowers Files series.  The Knight was a great book, but I mentioned that it took me a bit to get interested in the story.  Not so with his latest offering, The Bishop.  I started this book at 7 pm, thinking I would read for an hour while waiting for my husband to get home from work.  I read until 1am, only stopping then because my eyes would no longer cooperate and stay open!  The next morning, I picked it back up and didn't put it down again until that afternoon, when the last page was read. 

This was an excellent, thought provoking story.  Not only was it a great thriller, but it was a thriller for the intelligent reader.  There are no easy answers here, no cliches, but rather deep issues that cause you to want to stop and think, even as you want to fly through the book to find out what happens.  Topics such as neuroscience, metacognition, free will vs. uncontrollable instinct, and bioethics are all contained seamlessly within a gripping story.  The character of Tessa, who questions and investigates much in life, is quirky and smart and wonderfully written.  Her relationship with her stepfather is realistic and well done.  This time, I really felt the characters and lived in the story.

Although they don't ever get overly descriptive and move into the gore, it doesn't take much to fill in the details of the brutal murders.  The "not for the timid" warning is justified.  Personally, I like that the gruesomeness and evil is not glossed over or sanitized.  Murder, especially the type serial killers tend to enjoy, is gruesome and evil.  While I don't need to read every gory detail, I also don't need it prettied up for me.  Steven James did a great job walking that line.

The Bishop can be purchased from Revell Books, or at your favorite online or local bookstore.

*Disclosure: I received this book from Revell at no cost, for review purposes.*

29/52