Night Terrors: A Daniel Rinaldi Mystery

By: Dennis Palumbo
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publishing Date: May 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4642-0129-5
Reviewed by: Mary Lignor
Review Date: March 2013

A third book featuring Pittsburgh psychologist, Daniel Rinaldi is headed our way this spring and this reviewer is thrilled to be one of the lucky people to read it first. The title is Night Terrors by Dennis Palumbo. And it is chock full of terror on almost every page.

In the latest installment of this mystery series, Dr. Rinaldi is invited by the FBI, somewhat reluctantly, to treat one of their recently retired profilers. After a stellar career looking inside the heads of serial killers, Special Agent Lyle Barnes is missing a lot of sleep and is having horrible dreams. He dreams about these killers and how they tormented their victims and then wakes up screaming each night. Dr. Rinaldi is trying to get the agent to talk about his years as a profiler and try and remember what he went through in the capture of these criminals. This is not an easy job as the agent is in the crosshairs of an admirer of serial killers who is advertising the fact that he will kill everyone who had a hand in the capture of a recent killer (Judge, Jury and Executioner) and has started to do just that. To make matters worse, Agent Barnes goes on the run and the police and FBI are trying to find him before the killer does.

Dr. Rinaldi is also involved in a case of a young man who is accused of murdering a local businessman. His mother says that he is innocent and, even though the man has confessed, she is adamant about her son being set free. So, Dr. Rinaldi tries to help her prove her son is blameless even though he thinks that the man might be guilty. Dr. Rinaldi is beginning to think that these two cases are linked and both cases are becoming difficult to handle.

As usual, I really liked this book and it was a one-day read. After knowing Dr. Rinaldi for a while, it seems that he is getting a little over confident in the fact that he is good at his job and thinks that he is always right. In his defense, he usually is. Also, this installment is much more gruesome than the previous books.

Quill says: This particular story is lacking some of the humor that the others in the series had, and is also rather grisly in places. It might make an extremely good Quentin Tarrantino movie. As an admirer of Tarrantino, I still have to shut my eyes in some of the scenes in his movies. Good luck with Night Terrors and we will be looking forward to the next installment.