The beast : a Decker/Lazarus novel Cover Image

Book

The beast : a Decker/Lazarus novel / Faye Kellerman.

Summary:

"Over the years, Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus have got through a lot together. They've faced more than their share of serial killers and psychopaths. But this time two very different cases may cause them to re-evaluate everything they hold dear. One case involves Gabe, the troubled boy they've taken into their home. The other is much stranger - a man is found dead in his apartment, apparently mauled by his pet tiger. There is more to each case than anyone expects. But will Decker's family distractions finally prove too much? And when the truth comes out, will Rina and Peter's family survive?"-- Provided by publisher.

Throughout his years with the LAPD, Peter Decker has handled a number of tough cases and strange killers. But few of his previous assignments compare to his latest case--the most bizarre of his storied career. When Hobart Penny is found dead in his apartment, the cops think that his pet cat--an adult female tiger--attacked the reclusive elderly billionaire. But it soon becomes clear that the beast that killed the eccentric inventor is all too human. Digging into the victim's life, Decker and his colleagues, Detectives Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver, discover that Penny was an exceptionally peculiar man with exotic tastes, including kinky sex with call girls. Following a trail of clues that leads from a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains to the wild nightlife of Las Vegas, the LAPD detectives are left juggling too many suspects and too few answers. To break open a case involving the two most primal instincts--sex and murder--Decker must turn to a man with expert knowledge of both, Chris Donattim the dangerous man who also happens to be the father of Decker's foster son, Gabriel Whitman.