Messiah
Thriller
HarperCollins UK
1999
483
A stunning, shocking, wonderfully well written debut reminiscent of James Patterson and one that will catapault Boris Starling to the front rank of thriller writers.
The summer of 1998 sees London in the middle of a heat wave with a killer on the loose. Men are being murdered in their homes in the middle of the night, the only clue – a silver spoon left in their mouths where their tongues used to be.
Superintendent Red Metcalfe has a reputation among the population of London for being able to think like the criminals he hunts. Now faced with his toughest case, he picks an elite team to help find the pattern between the cases and track the killer down.
It’s not an easy task – the killer is so good he leaves nothing behind, no fingerprints or fibres. No two people are killed the same way the only thing the team have to go on are the silver spoons. As the weeks go by and more people are murdered the hunter becomes the hunted, Red’s past creeps up on him and he finds he’s next on the list to receive a silver spoon.
‘The Messiah’ is a gripping thriller, it keeps you guessing right until the very end. The squeamish be warned however – Starling goes into immense detail in places. 
