THE GRAVE ARTIST is the second pairing of bestselling thriller writers Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado featuring Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron. It follows the exploits that began in FATAL INTRUSION, the impressive first installment of what hopefully will be a long-running series.

It's nice to know that with the success of “Tracker,” where Deaver serves as a producer, and the upcoming film adaptation of Maldonado's novel, THE CIPHER, FATAL INTRUSION has been optioned by a major studio. I love seeing great writers receive recognition off the written page that allows them to attract an entirely new audience to their work.

"THE GRAVE ARTIST exhibits the talents of two top-notch authors who apparently are having a lot of fun collaborating. This series is quite enjoyable and hopefully will have the chance to continue to grow and mature."

The first character we meet is Damon Garr, who law enforcement and the press know as the “Honeymoon Killer.” Damon targets newlyweds and kills one of them to satisfy his own depraved desires. We witness this firsthand when he infiltrates a wedding ceremony and follows the inebriated groom while wandering the grounds of the party. Damon pushes him into a nearby pond where he strikes his head on the way down and drowns. This evil man slinks away as the body is found, and chaos ensues.

Meanwhile, the emergence of a file brings Carmen back to the worst day of her life, when her father was murdered, and she and her sister, Selina, were unable to prevent it. But it's difficult for Carmen to worry about this as she and Jake have just been named to a task force to stop the Honeymoon Killer. Instead, Selina will take the family case upon herself in an extremely dangerous situation that eventually will cross wires with Carmen’s investigation.

Readers are given information about Damon’s sociopathic profile, which includes crimes committed in Europe. Damon realizes that he is a killer based on his own instincts and the dangerous nurturing process that set him down this horrendous path.

A plot twist raises the stakes considerably as Damon meets up with a villain from Carmen and Jake’s past. When he also makes the acquaintance of what appears to be a like-minded female, the book takes off in yet another unexpected direction and further complicates the case that Carmen and Jake are trying to solve.

THE GRAVE ARTIST exhibits the talents of two top-notch authors who apparently are having a lot of fun collaborating. This series is quite enjoyable and hopefully will have the chance to continue to grow and mature.