Grave Instinct

by Robert W. Walker

Book Overview

In this new Instinct hardcover, readers will be on the edge of their seats as FBI medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran is taunted by a gruesome serial killer, scalping-and eating-his way across the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 051513810X
• ISBN13: 9780515138108
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Jove Books
• Length: 390 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.4" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Brain Stem should be the title...

This is a remarkable, fun, scary forensics forray and a forray into the madness not only of one maniac but many, and the madness of our law enforcement systems, especially the prison system which allows a crazoid like Manson to deliver his rantings on his website to potentially "poison" young minds. This is cutting edge stuff and recalls to mind themes Walker wrote about in his first Edge book, Cutting Edge, in which it is noted anyone with a PC or a Mac today can and does often set him or herself up as a demi-god or a conduit from God. Walker always deals with complex issues, and perhaps this is why his readers are so loyal to him. They know with each of his books they will get into meaty issues, and this is no soap opera as with so many other forensics titles that fall far more into the category of romance or as i said soap opera. I liken Walker's books to a TV drama that you CAN'T sleep or blink through or step away to make a sandwich, or drop the ball, because everything in the drama matters. There are surprises on every page. There is action on every page. As for the person calling herself traffic cop...for a traffic cop to be telling Mr. Walker he does not know anything about forensics, well that is crazy, isn't it?? Suffice to say that this book is a TEN. And don't miss FleshWar, and Mr. Walker's Geoffrey Caine novels on Fiction Wise now, and the return of the Chicago ME Dean Grant on Fiction Wise as well. But most of all don't miss his City for Ransom.

I Agree with Harriet --Doesn't Get Any Better

Grave Instinct is a huge roller-coaster ride from start to finish. It begins at lightning speed and just gets faster from there. Those who can't follow Walker's complex sentences need to go back to school. His style is similar to Martin Cruz Smith -- Gorky Park. He's closer to Faulkner than to Hemmingway. So you don't find a lotta easy sentences and you can't go out for a snack until the scene is finished, but the payoff is amazing. My favorite author and I can't wait to jump into his Absolute Instinct and his new series City for Ransom.

Grave Instincts

Scary, fun, keeps you guessing until the end. I could not put it down. BONE CHILLING FUN!! CONGRATS Rob Walker! Your best yet. A MUST READ!

Horrific Law & Order and X-Files in one

I have read all of Robert Walker's Edge series and Instinct series and cannot put any of these titles down, but this...this one I THREW across the room as it frightened me to death. Of course, later, I crawled over and found where I left off and read and finished the book. It ought to be called RAW Instinct. I love horror and while this book is mainstream suspense, it is also horror. No one crosses or bends genres so well as Mr. Walker. He quite literally captures your mind and holds it hostage with his use of the setting, characters, plot all woven into such a fine tapestry that it literally gets your adrenalin going like a roller coaster. I can't say enough about this book. It is a must read for anyone interested in a unique voice in forensic and medical examiner books, and Walker's Jessica Coran is topflight--over Scully any day of the week, and I'm so glad he did not draw her as a Jody Foster type. Mr. Walker has a fine website as well under his 13 letter name dot com. That too is a must see. It explains all his 4 pen names and lists all his 36 titles.

As good as it gets

Rather than harm his wife and child, Dr. Grant Kenyon and his alter ego "Phillip" moved out of his home in New Jersey and trolled I-95 for females. Once Grant snatched the innocent young woman, Phillip would take over and surgically cut the brain out and eat it. He believes that eating fresh human brains will increase his awareness and achieve cosmic consciousness. Grant is modeling his behavior after Daryl Thomas Chockil "The New Jersey Ghoul" who dug up the bodies of dead children in 1990 and ate a part of their brain. He was incarcerated in a hospital for the mentally insane but has gotten out a month before the skull-digger started killing his victims. The FBI immediately focus their attention on Daryl but medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran thinks the real killer is setting up The New Jersey Ghoul to take the fall. She persuades her superiors to look for someone who keeps logging on to Daniel's website and after a ton of digging, they find a likely suspect but Jessica almost gets herself killed when she tries to take him in.Robert W. Walker can always be counted on to create an exciting crime thriller with a villain that readers love to hate. Told from the point of view of the killer, the audience learns that the character suffers from multiple personality disorder but he is so evil, he illicits no sympathy. The novel is also told from the protagonist's point of view and readers sympathize with her feelings of impotence and frustration as she tries to convince her superiors to go after the right person, not the easiest one to blame.Harriet Klausner