Madness in the Ruins
A Mason Collins Crime Thriller
Previously Entitled Ruins of War
Imagine Jeffery Dahmer or Ted Bundy set loose in a war-ravaged city with thousands of places to lurk and legions of easy prey.
In the winter of 1945, seven months after the Nazi defeat, and Munich is in ruins. Mason Collins—former Chicago police detective, U.S. soldier, and prisoner-of-war—is now Chief Warrant Officer of the American Zone of Occupation. It’s his job to enforce the law in a place where chaos reigns. And his job just became much more dangerous.
A killer is stalking the devastated city—one who has knowledge of human anatomy, enacts mysterious rituals with his prey, and seems to pick victims at random. Relying on his wit and instincts, Mason must venture into dangerous places that put his own life at risk: from interrogation rooms with unrepentant Nazi war criminals to the dark tunnels beneath the crumbling city.
But what Mason doesn’t know is that the killer he’s chasing is stalking him as well…
Praise for Madness in Ruins
Previously Entitled Ruins of War
“A well-crafted, classic police tale set in postwar 1945 Munich, a city that could double as the living room of hell. . . . Mason’s pursuit of the madman takes him though a ruined landscape filled with inhabitants as shattered as the city they live in.”
—Larry Bond, author of Cauldron
“… the best historical crime novel I’ve read all year. As vivid a sense of time and place as anything by Alan Furst, a killer as horrifying as any in Thomas Harris, and a central character I’m sure we’ll be reading about for years to come.”
—Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest
“[A] compelling debut . . . the period details are absorbing.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Connell generates considerable tension. . . . It’s the vividly evoked postwar mood—devastated lives and landscapes combining to create an almost impenetrable fog of gloom—that is the real draw here.”
—Booklist
“Collins ticks all the proper hard-boiled detective boxes. . . . Connell’s definitely writing an old-school detective story, but there’s a healthy dose of The Silence of the Lambs–style serial-killer horror running through his book.”
—Military.com
“A thrilling hunt…gripping and gruesome.”
—James Becker, bestselling author of The Lost Testament
“… a well-crafted, classic police tale set in postwar 1945 Munich, a city that could double as the living room of hell. Mason Collins, a military cop, actually asked to be transferred there, and immediately has to find a killer who is preying on the citizens, adding terror to abject misery. Mason’s pursuit of the madman takes him through a ruined landscape, filled with inhabitants as shattered as the city they live in.”
—Larry Bond, author of Red Phoenix and Shattered Trident.
“A compelling debut…”
—Publishers Weekly
“The complicated Mason, who left the Chicago police force in disgrace, makes for a superb, flawed hero, whose compassion for others is augmented by his own demons. A sequel is mandatory.
—Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel
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