Cast The First Stone

Trace the deranged steps of a serial killer in Peter Falcone’s impressive debut, Cast the First Stone. A haunting tale of suspense and murder, its jaw dropping twists will have readers on the edge of their seats. Police fear they have a serial killer on their hands when two men turn up dead in two different states with only one thing in common: a bracelet around their wrists with a single charm in the shape of a golden crab. Struggling to maintain control of the case even after the FBI shows up, detective Bob Farone finds himself once again working with pathologist Sheila Ryan. She has an impeccable reputation…and also happens to be Farone’s ex-lover whom he desperately wants back. As Farone and Ryan struggle to ignore their feelings while tracking down the killer, Ivan Hartman plots his next victim. A middle-aged man with a painful history of unresolved anger, his recent diagnosis of cancer presents itself to him as a blessing. Now, after years of poring over newspaper clippings telling of child molesters, animal abusers, and drug dealers, he can finally act out his fantasy and wipe the world clean of its filthiest offenders. But the authorities are circling even closer to learning Hartman’s identity when an officer suggests that perhaps the crab charm left behind at the murder scenes represents the zodiac sign for Cancer. A major break in the case comes when Hartman botches his next attempted murder, accidentally allowing the intended victim to escape and creating an eyewitness. As Hartman realizes his time is running out, he is forced to make one last desperate shot at freedom in the novel’s unexpected and stunning conclusion.