Rick R. Reed WRITER

IM Reviews

“IM” by Rick Reed is a fast-paced page turner that I could barely put down. The title is the abbreviation for “Instant Messaging” but in this case, the instant messaging results in instant murder. While it is a mystery concerning a series of crimes against gay men, and featuring a gay detective and a questionably gay killer, the plot twists, character development, and suspense make it a story any fan of mystery or crime fiction will enjoy.

The story is about Timothy Bright, a man sexually abused as a teenager by his aunt’s boyfriend. He now seeks revenge upon the gay world, as well as his aunt and her boyfriend. He preys upon gay men who log onto Men4HookUpNow.com, instant messaging them and getting them to invite him over for a night of hot sex. Once they let him in their homes, he murders them. Chicago Police Department detective Ed Comparetto, who happens to be gay himself, investigates the crimes. Ed soon becomes convinced Timothy Bright is the murderer, until he learns that Timothy Bright actually died years before. Complications ensue as Ed seeks the killer and the truth behind the real identity of Timothy Bright. Several attempts to catch Bright fail until Ed puts not only himself, but his boyfriend, Peter, in serious danger.

What I found most interesting about “IM” was how Reed used different point-of-views to achieve his effects. The primary story takes place in the present day, detailing Ed Comparetto’s investigations in third-person. However, the author also uses diary entries from Timothy’s aunt, discussing Timothy’s childhood and how she came to realize he was mentally unbalanced. Most daringly, Reed creates chapters told in first person by Timothy Bright to explain how Bright became a killer. Reed manages to pull off these first person sections magnificently, not making Timothy completely repulsive to the reader, yet staying away from making him a sympathetic villain. Timothy’s first person narration is bold and allows him to flaunt to the reader how clever he is that he can get away with his crimes.

“IM” has many gruesome scenes which make it unlikely the reader will pity Timothy. Because of the highly descriptive sexual encounters and the repulsive murders that result from them, I would caution readers to stay away from the book if they cannot stomach blood and violence, yet the violent scenes are not simply for gratuitous shock effect, but to help the reader better understand Timothy’s evil nature and the sexual revenge he is set on committing.

Rick R. Reed has written several other novels and short stories. Fans of mystery and suspense may want to explore his work further. At the end of “IM” are several pages of his upcoming vampire novel “In the Blood” which gives a taste of his work in other genres. If his other books are as fast-paced and well-developed as “IM” I would read them as well. I may, however, think twice before I ever instant message anyone.

Tyler R. Tichelaar, Reader Views

***

Instant messaging has become for an entire generation of young gay men what gay bars and bathhouses were for the generation that preceded them. Quick, anonymous, no strings sexual encounters are now a click of the mouse away in a computer age world where glory holes have been replaced by web cams. Gay men no longer need to endure the requisite small talk in dark, smoky bars filled with the mingling scents of too much Obsession and Polo or furtive encounters in department store men’s rooms and can opt instead to silently chat with the like-minded and dispense with the small talk. Instant messaging has become like window dressing for the unsightliness of promiscuity – its high-tech anonymity taking casual sexual liaisons out of seedy, urine-soaked restrooms and sanitizing it in a façade of high-tech gloss. It’s promiscuity streamlined. Author Rick R. Reed explores the relative anonymity of the instant message generation with IM, a cautionary tale about a serial killer preying on the gay men of Chicago. Along the way he shows us that, while technology may have civilized promiscuity, promiscuity is alive and well – just taken out of the bars and bathhouses to the obscurity of the World Wide Web.

When Chicago PD detective Ed Comparetto is called to the grisly murder scene of a young gay man, his life is plunged into a nightmare as he is caught up in a cat-and-mouse game with a creepy killer – who may or may not be dead himself – who uses a gay Internet hookup site to lure his victims. Told from the multiple perspectives of Comparetto, both the killer and his occasional victims, and through the journal entries of the killer’s estranged aunt, Reed creates a fresh, multi-layered narrative that never tires. It is this approach, in fact, that skillfully saves the book when Reed weaves dangerously close to formula territory. Characters run the gamut, most engagingly colorful with hints of cliché. There’s the fired cop racing against time to salvage his life and career, the misfit serial killer who was orphaned and sexually victimized as a child, the aging society matron who drowns her demons in Bloody Mary’s, and the hunky new boyfriend whose do-good ways may just get him killed. While it’s formulaic suspense thriller all the way, Reed wisely pitches just enough curve balls to keep the reader invested right down to the “nick of time” ending. Ripe with genuine suspense and an escalating momentum that doesn’t let up until the very end, IM is the kind of deliciously nasty psychological thriller that’s guaranteed to raise gooseflesh even under a hot summer sun.

Peppered with enough graphic violence laced with sexual overtones to satisfy fans of James Patterson and Christopher Rice, the novel repulses and titillates with equal aplomb. Squeamish readers beware – IM is explicit in its depictions of the sexual violence that befalls the gay victims of Reed’s fiendish serial killer. But if you’ve long-hungered for a gay version of S7ven, then IM is your dream come true.

Thematically, Reed crafts a strong allegorical tale of promiscuity within the gay community and its dire consequences. There’s a lament here for the cautionary message that the AIDS virus sent in discouraging the often life-threatening practices associated with random sexual encounters – now virtually discarded by the new circuit party generation. As AIDS has become less death sentence and more manageable malady, Reed seems to indicate here that the gay community may be taking false comfort in that manageability. With his aggressive and merciless serial killer, the author seemingly reminds us that there are always new threats forming, unseen and undetected as we go about the monotony of our daily lives – genes mutating into diseases, childhood abuses cultivating future violent predators. Be mindful, Reed advises with IM – what you can’t see today may indeed be able to kill you tomorrow.

Vince Liaguno, Unspeakable Horror

***

Timothy Bright grew up being cared for by an aunt, and sexually abused by her sadistic boyfriend, leaving him an extremely bitter and troubled man, self-loathing in his own homosexuality.  Incapable of a normal relationship with anyone, he contacts other men for anonymous sexual encounters on a website called Men4HookUpNow.Com.  Once they meet, Timothy attacks and brutally murders them, leaving a trail of unexplained sadistic killings to be solved by the Chicago Police. 

Ed Comparetto, a openly-gay rookie police detective who knows he must prove himself, was assigned to one of the earlier murder cases, hoping his sexuality might give him some insight into the case.  At the scene, he interviews and comforts the slight young man who said he was a neighbor and friend of the victim, and who called 911 after finding the body.  When Ed's superiors check out his report, find that none of the information he got checks out, and the name the man supposed gave him - Timothy Bright - is on record as having died several years earlier, Ed is suspended from the force, allegedly for falsifying the report.  

So begins a twisting and highly engrossing superb murder mystery, which will be especially frightening to many gay men since the territory (gay "hook up" websites, gay clubs, inner city "gayborhoods") is familiar, and the villain has more than a passing physical and M.O. resemblance to real-life sicko Jeffrey Dahmer ... thankfully without the latter's culinary peculiarity.  Reed skillfully provides background information on Bright through diary entries from his aunt, and keeps the character simultaneously engaging and absolutely frightening in every way.  Ed's suspension from the police force gives Reed the freedom to make this more of a personal battle for the young detective, who not only wants to catch this killer but to put himself back in a favorable light with his commander.  The book is decidedly gory in parts, which I consider necessary in order to convey just how psychotic Bright is, making it clear he'll do anything to carry out his imagined vendetta against other gay men.  Ultimately, others from Bright's past become the focus of his deranged actions, and Ed has to try to rescue his boyfriend from Bright's clutches.  

A well-written, thoroughly enjoyable, and absolutely terrifying novel, which I recommend highly.  I give it five stars out of five.

Robert Lind, Our Bookshelf

***

“Instant Message or Instant Murder?”  

The Internet is the new meat market for gay men.  It’s easy and anonymous to hop online, browse a website and pick out a partner.  So what if the descriptions are misleading and the pictures are ten years out of date, as long as the sex is hard and hot?  

Then a predator starts using Men4HookUpNow.com as his hunting grounds.  Chameleon-like he knows how to seduce his prey by becoming any man’s fantasy.  They invite him over, let him in, and wish they hadn’t when the blood starts flowing as he satisfies his own dark and depraved lust.  

After the first killing, openly gay Chicago Police officer Ed Comparetto is called in to investigate.   He is well aware the opportunity is less about his skill as a detective and more because he’d publicly outed himself.  Maybe his homosexuality could somehow help him to figure out why a young man is dead, the victim of a brutal murder.  Even after two years on the force, it was difficult for Ed to remain composed when confronted by the bloodied corpse floating in its bathtub of gore. His mind busy cataloging the gruesome details, the missing fingers, the phone cord wrapped tightly around the corpse’s neck, the severed penis inserted into the victim’s rectum.  Finally after taking in all that he still has to interview Timothy Bright, the dead man’s best friend and the one who reported the crime.  What leads will Timothy give him to help him catch the killer?  

The following day Ed gets yet another early morning phone call from his boss.  This time it’s his day off, and he’s being called into the supervisor’s office.  Ed knows it’s going to be bad, but doesn’t realize just how bad.  He’s off the case, but not just the case; he’s off the force.  Fired!  For fabricating witness statements! It seems that Timothy Bright doesn’t exist, or rather he doesn’t exist anymore.  Timothy Bright has been dead and buried for two years.  Ed knows he didn’t interview a ghost or fabricate anything, but he has to prove it if he wants his job back.  

The hunt is on.  Will Ed figure out the truth in time?  How many more men will be savagely murdered before the killer is caught?  Ed is on his own, the Chicago PD isn’t interested in his “crazy theories.”  It’s a non-stop race to catch the killer before Ed loses everything, his boyfriend, his career, his life itself.  

If you like page-turning psychological thrillers with clever dialogue, you’ll probably like IM.  An intense read, not for the faint of heart.  Plenty of gory details to excite the most jaded aficionado.  There are a few minor flaws, a few mistakes that have been overlooked in the editing, and the ending was a touch anticlimactic, but otherwise it’s one hell of a ride.  

In their October 2006 issue, Unzipped magazine said about Rick R. Reed: “You could call him the Stephen King of gay horror.”  Rick R. Reed is also the author of the novels Obsessed, Penance, and In the Blood. Most recently his short story collection, Twisted: Tales of Obsession and Terror was published in 2006.

Sarra Borne, Front Street Reviews

***

IM is a psychological thriller about an online community where a predator has been and continues the hunt for his next victim. Gay men looking for partners via the World Wide Web are now being hunted by this predator and he has a way of seducing his prey that no man can refuse. What does IM stand for exactly? Is it instant messaging or instant murder? Maybe it means inevitable murder once you have been seduced by this madman.

Ed Comparetto is a gay Chicago police officer and is called in to investigate the first discovered murder. Timothy Bright is the victim’s friend and the one who reported the murder and Ed takes his statement only to later receive a call from his boss, and when this happens especially in the early morning hours and his day off can only spell trouble. Ed is fired for falsifying statements, seems as if Timothy Bright has been dead for two years and could not have been the one listed on Ed’s report as having given a statement. Now Ed must prove his innocence in order to get his job back, but will he be able to solve this before it is all too late? Now that Ed is off the case and off the job is the predator free to continue his lust of murdering gay men?

IM is one intense and super wild thrilling ride so hold on tight, I guarantee you will be on the edge of your seat. IM is superbly written with an intense plot line, great characters and is detailed and moves forward with astonishing speed taking you places you wish only existed in the movies. Reed delivers a novel that is engaging and thrilling while dealing with dark issues that reveals his true talent and a story that will stay with you long after reading the last page. While there were some typos in the book this should not deter you, this is a super entertaining and thrilling read and well worth overlooking a few typos.

A definite and astounding 5 stars! I must caution that the story is vivid in detail and gore and is not for the faint hearted.

Terry South, Quality Book Reviews

***

Instant message or instant murder?  IM is the new novel by horror author Rick R. Reed and it’s a tale of murder and mayhem set against the backdrop of modern day Chicago. When gay men start turning up dead around the city, the detective assigned to the case
finds himself chasing few leads and coming up with little more than a pink slip and a possible suspect who just might be a murder victim himself.  Loaded with twists, turns, chills, and thrills, IM will keep you turning pages long into the night and leave you breathless when it reaches its frenzied conclusion.  Rick R. Reed has created a modern
thriller with a relevant topic that will evoke chill bumps on even the most unaffected reader. Grade: A+

Carey Parrish, Web Digest Weekly

***

Chicago police detective Ed Comparetto begins to wonder whether the serial killer he is hunting down is flesh and blood or a ghost. He initially encounters the man face to face, without realizing he is the killer, while investigating the brutal slaying of a gay man. Timothy Bright claims to have discovered the body. The only problem with Bright as a witness, Ed discovers, is that he died nearly two years earlier in a similar brutal slaying.

Unfortunately, this fact is brought to his attention only when his commander suspends Ed for fabricating his report. Ed has already begun to have an uneasy working relationship with his superior as a result of Ed’s having outed himself in a gay publication. Ed had felt that with this case his homosexuality could finally come in handy, permitting him some secret knowledge. But clearly the commander welcomes the opportunity to let Ed go; he is unwilling even to consider there might be a valid explanation for the apparently false report.

Ed, however, cannot let go of the case: ". . . one of his own had fallen." As a result of his dogged pursuit, new possibilities open up in his own personal life. While in the Chicago Public Library searching out information about Bright’s murder, Ed encounters librarian Peter Howle. There is some degree of immediate chemistry between the two men. Even though Ed is still suffering from a recent breakup with his former boyfriend, he invites Peter over, and a budding romance begins.

Soon in his private investigation, Ed begins to suspect what the reader has known from almost the beginning: that Bright is the killer. But how can a dead man be a serial killer? Can a ghost really be enacting vengeance for his own vicious murder? For much of the length of the case, the reader is as uncertain as Ed is. As the suspense mounts, along with the number of deaths, the city and the very landscape begin to exude an atmosphere of ghostly menace.

Coupled with this sense of the uncanny is the question of how Bright is targeting his victims. Despite Ed’s hope that his own sexuality will give him an advantage, he is slow to realize that killer and victim are connecting in a Chicago chatroom on Men4HookUpNow. (The novel’s title stands for 'Instant Message.') The victims themselves are a strange assortment: the lonely, the desperate, the promiscuous. The reader is not led to feel much for any of them.

Using shifting points of view, the author tells the story from the vantage points of the suspended detective, his new boyfriend, the killer, the killer’s aunt, and several of the victims. In a work that is more plot than character-driven, the character that the reader comes to know best is probably the unsavory killer himself. He cleverly manipulates his victims to do as he wants. He starts playing mind games with Ed, actually stalking him. Tension builds as Bright demonstrates his seemingly preternatural knack of getting into both his intended victims’ and the detective’s safe zones.

In creating his suspense thriller, the author uses several of the hoariest stereotypes in mysteries and, to his credit, tries to breathe new life into them. We have the openly gay detective who identifies with the gay community while remaining relatively uncomfortable with much of the sex scene. We have the demented killer who was sexually abused as a child and who as a result becomes a predator himself. The killer also seems somehow to have supernatural abilities to influence others. We have the child molester, now an AIDS victim still in self-denial despite being in the last stages of the disease.

We have the heedless gays who continue to go for anonymous sex despite having a killer on the loose, one of whom even seems to deserve his fate as retribution for his having victimized another male. We have glimpses of a twin who must play some part in the mystery. We have an emotionally cold socialite who is more interested in appearances than in nurturing two orphan lads. And in a brief cameo we even have the mother who remains convinced that her gay adult son is only going through a phase.

Throughout the novel, in fact, there are varying degrees of conflicted feelings about sexuality. All in all, IM is a disturbing work to experience.

Drewey Wayne Gunn, Reviewingtheevidence.com

***

A serial killer is once again targeting Chicago’s gay community, leaving no trace of entry and no clues behind. The deaths are gory, turning the stomach of even the most hardened police detectives, including Ed Comparetto, himself a publicly gay detective. The murders are baffling, and the one witness Ed encounters, a man named Timothy Bright, is so elusive that his absence results in Ed’s being removed from the force. Supposedly, according to superiors, Ed grew tired of the lack of evidence and instead manufactured this witness.

But when Ed’s library research uncovers the death two years earlier of a man with the same name and the same appearance, Ed {along with the reader} is forced to wonder whether the paranormal might be inexplicably involved. In the process, Ed meets Peter, a handsome gay librarian, and despite his grief over his failed relationship with Dan, which had ended six months earlier, Ed finds himself becoming more strongly involved than he had expected. While their devotion blossoms, the killer escalates his own involvement and denouement upon denouement turn Ed’s world, and the story itself, upside down.

IM, subtitled “Instant Message or Instant Murder?” is one of the most convoluted and compelling suspense novels this reviewer has had the pleasure to read. Rick R. Reed delivers a superbly plotted and thrilling tale which is expertly crafted and designed to keep any reader looking over her or his shoulder while reading, and stay awake late at night. Definitely not a book for the queasy reader, I still recommend IM as a story which is well worth the reading for the characterization and intricately woven plotting. Mr. Reed demonstrates a gifted imagination in unraveling secrets and griefs going back decades, and complications unexpected to the reader. Kudos to Mr. Reed for this most excellent novel; this reviewer shall definitely be seeking out his other work.

Euro-Reviews

***

In the 1980s gay men would meet at bars or bathhouses for anonymous trysts. With the introduction and spreading of the internet, it became much easier to find somebody in the comfort of your own home, by logging onto a gay dating site, finding somebody interesting to send an instant message (or an IM) and then hoping that person would find you interesting too.

The disadvantage of hooking up over the net is that you never know who you meet. The advantage of hooking up over the net, is that neither do they.

Chicago, 2007. A serial killer with a taste for homosexual men has hit the city. The only things linking the murders is the fact that there's never any sign of breaking and entering, and the men are always killed in very bloody and violent ways. Police officer Ed Comparetto gets involved with these murders through his line of duty, but it becomes personal to him, as he's let go from the force after his main witness of the first case turns out to be a man killed in much the same manner, two years prior.

Rick Reed manages to catch your attention from the very first page, and does not voluntarily give it up again. The weak-hearted need not apply, but if you enjoy a good thriller that will get your heart beating faster, IM is a good choice. The fact that the plot could only too well happen in real life makes IM even more chilling to read.

The only draw-back of the novel is the same as one finds in so many thriller books and movies--that the end is too sudden. A bit more conscious wrapping up would have been nice, as there were some loose ends that still needed to be tied up.

Armchair Interviews says: IM is an extremely fascinating book, and one that should not be read after dark.

Armchairinterviews.com, Maria Elmvang

***

"Edge-of-your-seat read"

Most use the Internet as a means to meet, and talk to others like them. But not for the Internet killer that is searching for his next victim. He is searching the net under the digital underworld of Men4HookUpNow.com. He tells them what they want to hear just to get them under his thumb. Then he hits and kills them one by one. He is so intriguing that they welcome him into their homes. Then he turns the tables on them. Chicago Police Detective Ed Comparetto knows first hand what this killer can do. He is put in charge of this investigation to solve the murder of the poor victim who the killer butchered. The things the killer does to them, he puts them through such violent pain that it sickens Comparetto and makes him want to find this sick person and fast. One of the victims was one of his brothers. He had been left in a bathtub, a lewd display that made him so sick he had to leave and go outside. But in doing that he gets to interview the man that had found the body. Ed has seen a lot through the years and knows that people sometimes are not what they seem. Could this witness be any different? He wonders if this witness had more to do with the murder than he is letting on. Ed must use his skills as a detective to figure out if this person is telling the truth. But finding the information out from the witness is just the beginning of this nightmare. He finds out that the witness was more involved then anyone ever could have thought. Ed has to wonder if he is the killer, or that he could be the walking dead. This sets the case into a tailspin that Ed must stop and find out what the hell is going on before someone else dies. His career is on the line, along with his boyfriend. This case is taking so much out of him that his sanity is at the crises stage. But there is something more, Ed's life is in danger because the killer's world revolves around not instant messaging, but instant murder. What will Ed do to stop this evil man before he loses his own life? Will his boyfriend stand by him through these days of pure hell?

Rick R. Reed blew me away with this story. It is the type that will keep you guessing through the whole book. You have a killer that is going around on the Internet finding men. Telling them what they want to hear, drawing them in, then killing them. But not everything is as it seems. Ed has a fight on his hands and is running out of time. Not only is his career on the line so is his personal relationship with his boyfriend and he is in danger of losing him. His boyfriend wants to be first, but right now this case seems to be. And you would never figure who the killer is, he isn't all he seems. I can't wait to read more by Rick R. Reed; he has one more follower in me from this day forward.

Paranormal Romance Reviews, Nicole Harvey

***

When it rains, it pours...just ask Ed Comparetto…

The Chicago police detective's life is losing its luster: his lover has just left him, and, blamed for his failure to solve a rash of gruesome killings, he is suddenly run off the force. The reason for his dismissal: falsifying a witness at a crime scene. Ed may be losing his touch, but he knows he's not losing his mind, so this reasoning doesn't fly with him. He knows what he saw, and he knows who he talked to...slowly but surely, he gets the feeling that someone, somehow is playing him - little does he know…

Before long, Ed finds himself inextricably caught in the middle of a deadly game being waged by a sadistic killer with a malevolent axe to grind. More bodies are found, more questions go unanswered. As the clues begin to pile up, so does the danger, which Ed can handle as long as he's the only one involved; however, when his newfound love, Peter, gets entangled in the mess, the stakes are raised to a much more urgent level, and Ed knows it's imperative that he solve the case before more innocent blood is shed...

What he doesn't know, though, is that nothing can prepare him for discovering who is truly responsible for the murders - especially considering the fact that all roads actually lead to someone who died in similar fashion just two years before…

The action of IM is unmatched. Reed deftly weaves intriguing characters throughout an intricate plotline of misdirection and manipulative sleight-of-hand. The resulting mosaic is a masterpiece of suspense and nail-biting drama. Many make noble attempts at crafting whodunits, but few pull it off with such convincing realism as Reed.

The backdrop of IM lends much to the enjoyment you experience in putting all the different pieces together along the way, as you truly don't know just who/what the big picture will ultimately reveal. With equal parts action and mystery, Reed's tale is an enjoyable, fast-paced read entertaining to the fullest. Highly recommended for all readers, whether you're fans of the genre or not.

Apex Reviews (Five out of five stars), Renee Washburn

***

Timothy Bright, a handsome young character in this horror thriller, hides a past full of sexual abuse and rage. He takes out his grief and anger upon gay men by instant messaging at Men4HookUpNow.com and killing the guys who meet up with him for sexual encounters.

Ed Comparetto, a gay Chicago police detective, catches the cases and is put through a nightmarish investigation which culminates in his suspension from the job when doubt is cast on his findings. He’s sure that Timothy Bright is the murderer, but he can’t figure out how to prove it. Once he’s suspended, the cases become Ed’s personal crusade. He’ll have to put his own life on the line – and that of someone else he loves – in order to stop this killer. Will he risk it all?

Reed has created an engrossing story – albeit brutally violent and sometimes gory. The writing is crisp and carries the reader along on a wave of suspense and horror. Reed expertly uses third person for Comparetto’s investigation, first person for the murderer, and diary entries about Bright to bring this novel to life. He has capitalized on the phenomenon of people meeting via the Internet and dating services, and IM ends up being quite the scary cautionary tale.

The book is not for the faint-hearted, but is highly recommended for all those who enjoy horror a la “Silence of the Lambs.” If you enjoy a bit of gore, a tense thriller, and well-crafted characters, you’ll be utterly captivated by this book.
Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

***

Chicago PD detective Ed Comparetto has recently come out of the proverbial closet, a move which he fears puts his job on the force in jeopardy. When he's called to the murder scene of a young gay man, he finds it hard to be objective about the manner in which one of his "brothers" has been killed. His only witness is a man who, we find out later, died two years previously in a very similar manner.

Suddenly Ed finds himself caught up in a nightmarish game with Timothy Bright, a killer who may or may not be dead himself and who uses the Internet to hook up with his next victims. Can Ed stop what appears to be a serial killing spree before any more gay men die?

From the book's very first murder, Mr. Reed takes the reader on a wild ride where nothing is as it seems. Ed is a cop whose job crumbles from under him as he chases after a madman who may already be dead. Timothy Bright seems heartless and cruel, but as the story progresses, the reader learns what has made him who he is. Throughout the book, the pacing is tight and fast, catapulting you through the twists and turns, leaving you breathless, until you're reading as fast as you can in an effort to find out how it ends.

Beware ~ the violence is graphic and sexual, disturbing images that speak to the dangers of anonymous sex. But Comparetto is the perfect counterpart to the evil Timothy Bright, who haunts the cop's every move throughout the story. I found myself rooting for Ed from the start, and as time seems to run out for him, I was on the edge of my seat, reading furiously, flipping pages to find out what happened next.

In short, this book is riveting. I couldn't put it down. This is a must read for any fans of gay fiction who are looking for a good murder mystery/horror story. Think Stephen King meets Patricia Cornwell, with lots of gay sexual references to satisfy readers. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Mr. Reed's work.

Rainbow Reviews, JM Snyder

***

The anonymous lure of an instant message hook-up turns out to be more deadly than Tony could imagine as he unwittingly logs on for the last time and invites the IM killer into his home.

Arriving at the bloody scene, openly gay Chicago Detective Ed Comparetto finds himself questioning then comforting the witness who found the body and called in the crime. The only problem is that Timothy Bright, the grieving friend, is reportedly dead himself and Comparetto is unceremoniously dumped from the force for falsifying reports. Comparetto sets out on a dangerous course of his own to prove that his witness is real and is the prime suspect responsible for the bloody trail of victims that the IM killer is leaving behind.

The killer taunts and lures Comparetto but as he gets closer to proving the existence and guilt of the IM killer, Comparetto, and those nearest and dearest to him become targets in a most deadly game of hide and seek.

IM is a page-turner of the highest order but what makes it just that little bit scarier is the ease with which author Reed transitions from character to character. We find ourselves inside looking out through the eyes of a killer, a predator, a lover, friends, and family members as Reed propels us on a terrifying page by page journey.

Rick Reed has, in IM, spun us a very convincing tale of horror, evil, and fear, more so because in the real world of the instant message, you never really know who’s reaching out from the other side.

Pulp Magazine, Nola Summers