Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! It’s been a very hot minute since I did one but I figured I might as well get back into it! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.

This week’s featured book is UNSUB by Meg Gardiner. This is a psychological thriller that was published several years ago now (2017) and has a 4.05 star rating on Goodreads.

Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.

The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.

Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.

Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss? 

Why do I want to read it?

I may be The Ultimate Chicken™️ but this literally does not apply when it comes to thrillers (that don’t involve the paranormal). I have a weird fascination with true crime and serial killers and I can’t get enough of shows like Criminal Minds and Mind Hunter (although I’m still a newbie to this particular show). I take comfort in knowing that I’m not the only one who has this obsession! I first heard about UNSUB in a group chat I was in where we were exchanging our favourite serial killer stories, and a lot of people commented on how amazing it is. I can’t wait to read it! LOL

Have you read UNSUB or are you not a weirdo like me? 😂