Alexandra Rafferty is an adult survivor of childhood trauma. As a young girl she was both victim and perpetrator, but her psyche has compensated by erecting barriers. In life, her interpersonal reticence both protects and stifles her. Her chosen career has placed her on the sidelines of brutality as a police technician. With a mere camera's eye view of evil, the forensic photographer is able to maintain her defenses. However, her post-mortem snapshots of a brutal serial killer's work have begun to pique her intellect and tickle an inner anxiety.

This novel has death, blood, rape, and brutality, but the reader is reasonably spared the full horror. Instead of total immersion, the author protects the reader. Alexandra's defenses are the reader's defenses. As the plot unfolds, the distant vantage point allows one to pan while imperceptibly narrowing the focus. By the end of the novel, the characters have collided and both Alexandra and the reader are fully involved.

Alexandra leads a cast of characters that includes a very interesting serial killer, a slime-bag husband, and a sometimes demented father. The story brings her pained childhood to the present incrementally. Thankfully, comic relief from the exquisitely depicted father buffers the intensity. The reader will struggle to comprehend a gruesome killer who orchestrates an enigmatic crime scene, yet displays normal behavior. Meanwhile, the nearly slapstick antics of the supporting characters interject fun into the novel.

There is even a riddle, "What has eighteen knees and white blood?" The reader will learn the answer in Body Language. However, the reader may always wonder if James W. Hall is sending a covert message by placing the novel's heavy action in the Seaside, Florida, locale of the hit movie The Truman Show.

This novel varies from the more typical pathology or psychological whodunits because Alexandra is inexpert at crime solving, people interpretation, and perhaps even at life in general. Her long-term motives are pure, but her methods are exceptionally ill-advised and sometimes illegal. As the novel progresses, her life spins further toward chaos.

In other words, Alexandra Rafferty is a very human character in an enjoyable book.

--Steve Nemmers