THE CIPHER

 5 stars out of 5

This book, the first in a series, was an Amazon First Reads choice that looked intriguing. And you know what? It is. Not only did I enjoy it thoroughly, but I'm now looking forward to the next one.

To be sure, it's on the grisly side; FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera was the victim of almost unspeakable acts done by a serial killer/rapist back when she was 16. She turned out to be the one who got away - but not without a ton of physical and emotional scars. As this book begins, she's jogging on a Virginia trail during off hours and is attacked. She overpowers her attacker, but as tends to happen in these days of instant "news," the whole thing was captured on video and uploaded to the Internet.

And therein lies a problem: Her attacker of many years ago was watching - and now he knows where she is. Worse, he's decided to play some games before he finally recaptures Nina; he'll kidnap others who resemble her, torture and kill them and leave mysterious clues for her to follow in hopes of preventing an attack on yet another victim. Because the clues often contain numbers and symbols, he's dubbed the "Cipher."

But now, Nina has the full power of the FBI behind her - including Dr. Jeffrey Wade, the Behavioral Analysis Unit guy who nearly got her booted out because he thought her judgment couldn't be trusted. He, too, has emotional scars from the nasty ending of another case for which he blames himself, but they've got no choice but to work together. A couple of other capable members join their team - one a cybersecurity expert - so the race is on to identify the guy before he strikes again (or worse, manages to recapture Nina herself). 

I can't reveal more without spoiling things for other readers, but I can say The rest is packed with action as well as psychological analyses for which the BAU is well known. What happens isn't always pleasant, but it sure is exciting. Well done!

The Ciphor by Isabella Maldonado (Thomas & Mercer, November 2020); 332 pp.