Max Wolfe

Max Wolfe is back-the two-fisted homicide detective with a small daughter and dog waiting for him at home, and a crazed serial killer waiting for him somewhere out in the pitiless London streets. On New Year's Day, a wealthy family is found slaughtered inside their exclusive gated community, their youngest child stolen away. The murder weapon-a gun used to stun cattle before they are butchered-leads Max to a dusty corner of Scotland Yard's Black Museum devoted to a mass murderer who, 30 years ago, was known as The Slaughter Man. But The Slaughter Man has done his time and is now old and dying. Is he really back in the killing game? And was the slaughter of a happy family a mindless killing spree, or a grotesque homage by a copycat killer, or a contract hit designed to frame a dying man? Max desperately needs to find the missing child and stop the killer before he destroys another innocent family-or finds his way to Detective Wolfe's own front door. The Slaughter Man is another taut thriller from acclaimed international bestseller Tony Parsons.

A band of vigilante executioners roam the hot summer nights, abducting evil men who they judge unworthy of living and hanging them by the neck until dead. Sentenced to death is the gang member who abused dozens of vulnerable girls, the wealthy drunk driver who mowed down a child, the drug addict who put a pensioner in a coma and the hate preacher calling for the murder of British troops. But do these rogue hangmen crave true justice-or just blood? As the bodies pile up and violence explodes all over the sweltering city, DC Max Wolfe-dog lover, single parent, defender of the weak-embarks on his most dangerous investigation yet, hunting a righteous gang of vigilante killers who many believe to be heroes. The search will take Max from squalid backstreets, where religious fanaticism breeds, to mansions in mourning and all the way to the secret rooms of power where decisions are weighed about life and death. But before The Hanging Club is confronted, Max Wolfe must learn some painful truths about the fragile line between good and evil, innocence and guilt, justice and retribution. And discover that the lust for revenge starts very close to home.

Meet London police detective Max Wolfe. Insomniac. Dog lover. Coffee addict. Boxer. Single parent. And every murderer's worst nightmare. Someone has been violently killing members of London society. The killer is strong enough and smart enough to kill with a single knife stroke, and bold enough to kill in public. The victims span all levels of London society, and appear to have absolutely nothing in common. As Max begins following the killer's bloody trail, it takes him from the bright lights and backstreets of London all the way to the corner offices in the corridors of power. But when Max realizes that the victims may have all crossed paths decades ago at their exclusive private school, the case changes. Suddenly, the murders look less random and more personal, and Max finds the killer's reach getting closer to everything-and everyone-he loves. Award-winning journalist and international bestselling author Tony Parsons brings his talent for rich characterization and propulsive storytelling to The Murder Man, his stunning crime fiction debut.