up a highly encrypted chat room on the dark web called Jack’s Special Place, and the others later found their way to the site. The group formed a mutual admiration and aid society, passing helpful tips on eluding capture and sharing the documentation and enjoyment of their crimes with each other. Their sense of invincibility is shattered when high school senior Connor Mitchell somehow stumbles across the chat room and misinterprets their discussions as the sort of immature braggadocio that frequently shows up on these sites. Using the handle “Socgoal02,” Connor ridicules Jack’s Boys for being silly, childish, lying braggarts. Not surprisingly, Jack’s Boys don’t appreciate the putdown. They soon learn Connor’s identity and start plans for a gruesome revenge against Connor and his girlfriend, Niki.

Jack’s Boys has two elaborate action set pieces where Connor eventually encounters Jack’s Boys. But most of the book comprises the inner monologues or online chats of the various Boys. Readers never learn their real names or detailed information about them. However, the author reveals their twisted mental processes in great detail. Sometimes too much detail. The story shifts from one killer’s point of view to another to another, sometimes repeatedly in the same chapter. They reminisce about past killings, which differ in methodology and the choice of victims. However, the author covers only their planned attacks on Connor and his family in detail. Genre fans may develop a morbid fascination with seeing the various shadings of psychopathy that motivate the five individual killers and the warped group dynamic that has developed.

Readers who get further into Jack’s Boys will realize the killers are not trained assassins. They are just five outwardly normal-appearing men with a passion for murder who succeed because their intended victims don’t realize how twisted and dangerous they are until it’s too late. They have also learned to plan well and cover their tracks to avoid forensic detection. But while the killers lack special combat skills, at least one of their intended victims doesn’t. Connor has lived with his grandparents for years, ever since his parents died. His grandfather Ross is an ex-Marine with extensive combat experience in Vietnam and a sizable personal arsenal. Connor and Niki are both high school athletes in top physical condition. Their skill sets create suspense for readers about the outcome of their eventual showdown with the killers.

While the author devotes considerable time to exploring the psyche of the killers, he also gives readers insight into Connor, his grandparents, and Niki. They all have their own mental issues. Connor may have found the online location of Jack’s Special Place, but he and Niki still do some typically stupid teenage things later that land them in trouble. Ross is still dealing with trauma arising from his Vietnam service, while Connor hasn’t gotten over the death of his parents. Grandmother Kate is an emergency room nurse, and she encounters bloodshed and death daily. At first, I thought the discussions about Kate were superfluous to the main storyline, but the author brilliantly ties her into the action.

I’ve read many serial killer novels (including one by John Katzenbach) pitting serial killers against surprisingly resourceful would-be victims. But Jack’s Boys is the first book I’ve read that turns this cat-and-mouse game into a team sport. It’s the five Boys pitted against Connor’s family, with the outcome in doubt for much of the book. The author skillfully establishes the strengths and weaknesses of both “teams” to keep the action plausible within the confines of this genre. When the action starts, the book becomes incredibly suspenseful.

A 300-page version of Jack’s Boys would have been a superb thriller. However, this book is over 500 pages long, an incredible length for this type of story. Despite the author’s skill and extensive research into criminal psychology, the killers’ repeated inner monologues sometimes become tedious. The effect is like watching a documentary about an important football game in which the cameras spend more time covering every similar practice and training session during the week leading up to the game than the game itself.

Although Jack’s Boys could have benefitted from more judicious editing, the book has little, if any, poor material. Many of the insights into the Boys’ warped thought processes, such as their adoption of coded language in their chats (like calling all police “gestapo”), are creepily fascinating. In the book’s Acknowledgements, the author credits various psychiatrists he consulted during his research for the book. That effort was worthwhile; the Boys’ bizarre musings seemed authentic… and chilling. Even at its current length, Jack’s Boys is a superb suspense thriller. You wouldn’t want to meet any of Jack’s Boys, but you will want to curl up in bed with Jack’s Boys and its colorful characters.  

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.