onathan Kellerman writes razor-sharp novels that cut to the quick. Now comesMotive,which pits psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis against a vicious criminal mindthe kind only Kellerman can bring to chilling life.

Even having hundreds of closed cases to his credit cant keep LAPD police lieutenant Milo Sturgis from agonizing over the crimes that dont get solvedand the victims who go without justice. Victims like Katherine Hennepin, a young woman strangled and stabbed in her home. A single suspect with a solid alibi leads to a dead endone even Alex Delawares expert insight cant explain. The only thing to do is move on to the next murder casebecause theres always a next one.

This time the victim is Ursula Corey: a successful, attractive divorce whos been gunned downnot a robbery but an execution, a crime that smacks of simple, savage revenge. And along with that theoretical motive come two strong contenders for the role of perp: the dead womans business partner/ex-husband and her divorce lawyer/secret lover. But just as Alex and Milo think theyre zeroing in on the most likely suspect, a bizarre new clue stirs up eerie echoes of the unsolved Hennepin murder. And the discovery of yet another crime scene bearing the same taunting signature raises the specter of a serial killer on a mission, whose twisted method is exceeded only by his manipulative and cunning madness.