Level 26: Dark Origins (Level 26 Series #1) Book

I don't ask for any kind of literary high-mindedness when I read throw-away modern crime novels. This book, however, has some of the worst prose I have ever read, but the scene where the killer flenses the hair in his anus was a treat.

Duane Swierczynski writes amazing comic books. He does. You should go out and pick up his runs on Immortal Iron Fist and Werewolf by Night: In the Blood. What you should absolutely avoid is this "interactive" novel that he co-wrote with the creator of, ugh, the television show CSI.

I feel like the scripts and teleplays from episodes of CSI, the worst crime drama/recreation ever to air on television, would make for more literary read than this book. The hack writing of the show would be easier to follow and only half as convoluted.

The premise drew me in enough to make me pick the book up instead of straight out selling it on amazon.com when it came in the mail from a book club I belong to. A Level 26 killer, a new kind of killer that surpasses all other killers ever known to man. This is a new breed of killer because the scale stops at 25. Problem with this premise? No killer ranked currently surpasses level 22 currently and the killer in the book is no exception.

There is nothing that this killer does that outranks Gacy or Gary Ridgway. I'm not saying that this isn't brutal, but it doesn't match the premise. The killer only eludes the police for nearly 30 years, which, as most people know, Ridgway almost did as well.... so.... yeah...

What makes this killer different? Absolutely nothing. It couldn't be sold on it's own merit so it had to come up with a selling point and I admittedly fell for it. But about 30 pages in I began to realize that the book wasn't what it had claimed. So instead of getting something new, we get a rehashing of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon, and that is really all this book is.

What I would have preferred was a very single-minded killer and an in-depth analysis of the killer and motives. Instead, he kills anyone he wants. This is supposed to make him more dangerous. What it makes him is unbelievable and cartoonish. You want a good serial killer book, or at least a decent one? Read Red Dragon. Better yet, watch serial killer movies like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Maniac. Or read one of the many non-fiction books on actual serial killers because they are actually worth the time and energy and all the more shocking for being REAL.

Take this book and flense someone's anus with it.