He had to punish, she needed precision. An old detective is certain of his patterns, but not hers. Do they even exist?
Ace used to punish criminals, giving them a card for their sins: hearts for those who had no heart, diamonds for the greedy, clubs for those who fell under evil influence. He destroyed the gains, inflicted equal wounds. An eye for an eye. Then someone started to copy him: a woman, the Queen this time. David believes she has the technique that Ace had, and that he was teaching her this with the public information he gave out. But she apparently lacks the soul of the original killer.
Written by Justin M. Davis, ACE OF SPADES is a tale of obsession. David is so hypnotized by Ace's patterns that, despite being attuned to every small detail, he pays little attention to this criminal's psyche. He spent twenty years of his life chasing Ace, and he isn't sure it was worth it—if it was a legacy he wants to pass onto his new understudy, Emily.
There is all the grittiness of a detective novel here, but the focus is psychological—on the patterns and meanings behind crime. The text is cinematic, placing us at the scene: "He didn't speak. Metal, dust, old breath, the taste of morning still clung to his tongue." In certain moments, personification is used to make buildings and rooms feel alive—as though the walls themselves have eyes and there is no rest from the living, breathing madness.
The prose allows us to look through David's eyes, noticing the tiny micromovements that catch the attention of a very perceptive man: "A light chuckle escaped her, untroubled and almost effortless; her fingers loosened around the pen, and she leaned back a fraction." He notices everything. The text leaves clues like breadcrumbs, one after another, hooking the reader into the horrors that unfold around our protagonist. Short sentences thump like heartbeats: "The night air hit him cold. He stood at the curb until the noise thinned and the flashes stopped chasing him. This isn't homage. It's inheritance."
ACE OF SPADES is a novel that needs to be read with the lights on, and with enough time to complete in one sitting so that it doesn't keep you up at night. It's fast-paced, packed with imagery, and full of tangible suspense. The text, like the reader, briefly pauses for breath and gasps. Like the cards left at every scene, it is deliberate and impossible to ignore. In short, Davis has written a psychological thriller with the weight of literary fiction.
ACE OF SPADES by Justin M. Davis is a razor-sharp psychological thriller that crawls under the skin and stays there. Relentless, precise, and deeply unsettling, this puzzle commands the reader's attention.
~ Nicci Attfield for IndieReader