Asylums and serial killers with paranoid schizophrenia?! Sign me up! If those two things do not intrigue you, then perhaps it is worth adding that one of the doctors in the asylum here wants to use an experimental drug on one of the nation's most horrific killers to "cure" his schizophrenia. But when doing so it is like reality bends and all the "inner demons" of this murderer are unleashed on the world... or at least within the walls of the asylum. What is real and what is a lie? How are will you go to help someone?

One of my favorite aspects of this book is all of the character development. I got to know these characters and find out how they ticked. But it is all for a greater purpose, as well. We have to get to know them because we have to be able to understand just what they are afraid of and what might break them. This is seen later on in the final third of the book.

This book is quite unputdownable as the pace of the story is strong and has a good mix of different story lines and characters. You never get too settled and are always wanting to find out more. Kirk does a great job keeping the reader engaged and interested throughout the book while we are trying to understand just what is happening to the characters as well as to us the readers.

We all have a darkness. Not just the serial killers or the criminally insane paranoid schizophrenics.
All of us. Even the doctors and helpers. It's whether or not we choose to accept the inner darkness and how we go about our lives making sure it doesn't win that ultimately defines who we are.

4 stars and I am highly looking forward to more from Brian Kirk!