Book Review: BINGE KILLER by Chris Bauer

BINGE KILLER by Chris Bauer  (October 2019 release)  Mass Market Paperback, 317 pages.  ISBN # 9781951249090. 

Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .

A female bounty hunter tracks a maniacal killer to a town in rural Pennsylvania.

A town with its own dark secret…

Counsel Fungo is a unique woman. An experienced bounty hunter, she’s very good at her job. You don’t have to ask. She’ll tell you. Officially, her two canine companions are her therapy dogs. Unofficially, she considers them to be her partners. Counsel has suffered intense loss and was once the victim of a horrible crime. But now these experiences drive her unquenchable thirst for justice. And she’ll do anything to stop criminals from preying on the vulnerable.

Randall Burton is a serial killer and a rapist. Diagnosed with a terminal disease, he has jumped bail and intends to go out in a blaze of glory. He heads to sleepy Rancor, Pennsylvania, named one of the “Safest Towns in America,” for one last, depraved, hurrah. A quiet town tucked away in the Poconos, its citizens are mostly widowers, bowlers, and bingo players. 

Mostly.

There’s a reason no one in Rancor has reported a major crime in the past 50 years. And neither Counsel nor the killer are quite ready for what this town has in store...

My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I only needed to read the four-page flashback chapter that opens this novel to know that I wanted to keep going and devour this fascinating story. But, I read it slowly over the course of several days in order to both savor the contents as well as appreciate the skillful writing. 

     A deadly 1960's bank robbery in a small coal-mining town (I love the name - Rancor) in northeastern Pennsylvania changes the complexity of a close-knit community forever. 

     As the novel moves forward into the present day, Bauer introduces one intriguing and delightful character after another, none more fully realized than the Tourettes-afflicted female bounty hunter and her prey - - a senior serial killer and rapist of constantly changing identities who's engaged in one last bloody and brutal binge with Rancor (voted safest small town in America) as his crime scene of choice.

     Binge Killer contains enough suspense, dark humor, and romance to offset the more graphic scenes of murder and mayhem. Bauer doesn't spare the details, but does know when to put the brakes on by only hinting at some of the more vicious rapes (especially younger victims).

     What caught my interest even more than the main characters was the town of Rancor and its' secrets. There's a compelling camaraderie and provincialism in Rancor that has a darker side when it comes to law enforcement and the apprehension and sentencing of alleged criminals. 

     Whew. Quite a read. Check it out.