The 7th Victim (The Karen Vail Series, Book 1)

Introducing FBI profiler Karen Vail, who crosses paths with a Virginia serial killer in the first in the bestselling series.

Special Agent Karen Vail is a knockout, tough and brilliant (Tess Gerritsen). As lead profiler for the FBI, Vail is spearheading the task force investigation into a serial killer known as Dead Eyes, who s been terrorizing Fairfax County, Virginia.

What separates this psychopath from the others is a peculiar savagery, and an intimate knowledge of the FBI s detailed strategy of pursuit. What separates Vail from her peers is a life that has made her hard and uncompromising. Recently divorced from an abusive husband, and in the throes of an ugly custody battle, she s also helpless against her mother s struggle with Alzheimer s. But little by little, as Vail s personal baggage begins to consume her, the investigation threatens to derail.

Now she s weighing her last hope on a controversial profile. It suggests that the one key to solving the case lies with the seventh victim. But that key will also unlock secrets that could destroy Vail s career, and expose a truth that even she might not be strong enough to survive.

In compiling his research for The 7th Victim, Alan Jacobson was allowed wide-ranging access to the FBI s behavioral profiling unit over several years. Named one of the top five books of the year by Library Journal, it s a quantum leap in terror and suspense . . . A masterpiece (New York Times bestselling author James Rollins).