SERPENT by David Wiltse - SIGNED FIRST EDITION BOOK

A taut thriller studded with unexpected reversals and surprising intersections of con artists, hardened prisoners, and the wiliest of serial killers. Former FBI agent John Becker returns, in Wiltse's most absorbing shocker yet. Still on indefinite medical extension from the Bureau, Becker finds he can't fully disengage from the wackos and serial killers with whom he inexplicably shares a certain sensibility. An inmate from a maximum-security prison is sending Becker anonymous coded messages. After successfully decoding these unwanted missives, a reluctant Becker agrees to a face-to-face with the offender - who ultimately cuts a deal for his freedom with Becker's hated superior, Associate Director Hatcher. Even Becker can't anticipate the kind of demon Hatcher unwittingly unleashes, though he is the first to wise up to it. And he is the only one who can catch the fiend - by exploiting the very talent he would like most to repress: his uncanny empathy for the most twisted of criminal minds.