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In New York, a psychopathic killer will strike on October 15, as he always does -- the anniversary of his mother's death, when he will kidnap, rape and murder an innocent young girl by slashing her jugular vein. William P. McGivern's Night of the Juggler tells the tense story of the serial killer as he prepares to kill again and the New York cops who are trying to find him before he strikes.A task force has been formed in the NYPD to find the killer known as the Juggler. Detective Vincent "Gypsy" Tonnelli has insisted that something links a series of violent murders that have occurred each October 15, and his interest has placed him at the head of the task force. As the date draws near, the elements are falling in place for Gus Soltik, an illiterate and childlike giant, cut off from the rest of the world, who watches and waits for the right young girl to present herself. He is casing a particular part of Central Park, where he watches a young girl named Kate Boyd. What Gus Soltik can not know is that her father is Luther Boyd, a onetime Army officer with training in guerrilla warfare and the ability to find him and bring him in. When Kate disappears into Central Park, the clock begins to tick as the search closes in. Will Tonnelli and Boyd find her before it is too late?McGivern restricts his story largely to the area of Central Park in Manhattan, where Gus Soltik is pursued on October 15. Night of the Juggler captures the ever-tightening intensity of the search for a serial killer as the clock runs down, with flavorful touches of character and life in New York. It is a deft and intelligent thriller, superbly controlled and rich in suspense.
A desperate father and a dedicated detective race against time to rescue a young girl from a psychopathic killer stalking Central Park on a grim anniversary. When Kate Boyd is abducted by Gus Soltik, a man driven by a ritualistic compulsion to kill, her father Luther Boyd utilizes his specialized military training to track the predator through the urban wilderness. Simultaneously, Detective Vincent Tonnelli leads an NYPD task force, navigating the bureaucratic and logistical hurdles of a massive manhunt. The narrative maintains a high-pressure pace, shifting perspectives between the hunter, the hunted, and the law enforcement officials closing in on the perpetrator.
This novel is characterized by its lean, propulsive prose and its effective utilization of the urban thriller genre conventions. The narrative structure relies on the tension generated by the impending deadline of the killer's ritual, creating a sense of urgency that permeates the search. Readers often note the author's ability to balance the technical aspects of police work with the raw, personal stakes of a father seeking his daughter. The setting of Central Park serves as more than a backdrop, functioning as a claustrophobic arena that traps the characters in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. The work stands as a representative example of mid-1970s suspense fiction, prioritizing pacing and atmospheric dread over complex subplots.
Page Count:
221
Publication Date:
1976-01-01
Publisher:
Berkley Medallion Books
ISBN-10:
0006146309
ISBN-13:
9780006146308
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