Five: A Novel

A woman’s corpse is discovered in a peaceful Austrian meadow. More disturbing, a strange combination of letters and numbers has been tattooed on the soles of her feet. Detective Inspector Beatrice Kaspary from the local murder squad quickly identifies the digits as map coordinates. These lead to a series of gruesome discoveries as she and her colleague Florin Wenninger embark on a bloody trail―a modern-day scavenger hunt using GPS navigation devices to locate hidden caches. The “owner” of these unofficial, unpublished geocaches is a highly calculating and elusive fiend who leaves his victims’ body parts sealed in plastic bags, complete with riddles that culminate in a five-stage plot. Kaspary herself becomes an unwilling pawn in the perpetrator’s game of cat and mouse as she risks all to uncover the motives behind the murderer’s actions.

Ursula Archer’s Five is a disturbing roller-coaster ride through the madness and mayhem of a serial killer’s psyche, and a detective’s desperate attempts to thwart it. Filled with twists and mind-bending turns, this masterful debut is not to be missed.