The Thief of All Light

Set in rural Western Pennsylvania, this middling series launch from Schaffer (Superbia) introduces Carrie Santero, a rookie small-town cop hoping to move up to detective. When a young woman goes missing, a man is murdered in the parking lot of a gay bar, and Carrie’s best friend and the friend’s daughter disappear, Carrie’s boss, Bill Waylon, calls in the best detective he knows, his old partner, Jacob Rein, to assist in the investigation. The evidence points to a single perpetrator imitating other serial killers, what Jacob calls an omnikiller. Schaffer’s experience as a police officer lends verisimilitude to the attitudes and actions of his cast—at one point the police chief explains to Carrie that coffee is the real reason that cops have been spotted at donut shops. Though Carrie is a fairly standard headstrong officer, and the villain is a typical depraved murderer, the character of Jacob is more complex, which bodes well for the sequel. The graphic violence may put off some readers. [em]Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Aug.) [/em]