Book Review: Let The Devil Sleep By John Verdon

Dave Gurney, a retired NYPD homicide detective, agrees to meet a young woman making a documentary on The Good Shepherd. A decade ago, a series of roadside shootings and a manifesto raging against the rich made the killer headline news. But then the shootings stopped and nobody could say for sure why.

Finding himself drawn back into the case, Gurney soon discovers new facts the original investigation missed. More troubling, it seems that someone is aware of his interest and they are not happy: a razor sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escapes injury in a booby trapped basement.

Realizing that this is one killer much too clever to ever be found, Gurney stakes his life on finding The Good Shepherd. He makes himself a target so that the killer will come for him…

I love how this book has two profiles of the killer – the official one, and Dave Gurney’s. Gurney challenges the FBI and obviously, they are not happy about it.

I think it was a little far fetched in that the FBI are portrayed to look a bit stupid – like the profiler misses simple things that a detective spots, and the lead on the case refuses to accept there may be more to the case than meets the eye.

Having said that, I liked the story and I found it interesting how Gurney thinks differently to the investigating officers.

I also enjoyed the sub-plot about the documentary, and how the media in the book makes a ratings grabbing scandal rather than the emotionally touching documentary Kim, the girl mentioned in the blurb, wanted to make.

Although I quite enjoyed reading the book, I felt like the back cover gave too much away. It basically tells you the full story in three paragraphs rather than a taster. Gurney doesn’t decide to make himself a target until chapter 42 of 51. 3/5