Preyed Upon — Robert Abatti

Preyed Upon is the second novel in a series after Birds of Prey written by Robert Abatti. In the opening scene of Preyed Upon, the retired chief justice of the California Supreme Court is assassinated by long-range sniper while delivering a speech on police abuse and violence at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The justice, who was African-American, was felt at first to be a victim of the growing racial divide within the country, at the hands of a far right wing Neo-Nazi organization. His murder, however, goes unsolved in spite of all of the investigative efforts of multiple agencies of law enforcement from local to federal. When more murders of government and law enforcement officials occur over a span of a few months and across the country, the FBI knows that they are dealing with a serial killer, highly trained in all methods of assassination who is constantly staying one step ahead of their pursuit.

The methods of killing, paucity of evidence, and lack of witnesses brings back memories of a previous known serial killer, Frank DiMocchio, who was finally killed in the Black Hills of South Dakota at the end of Birds of Prey. The hunt for the killer has the FBI turn its focus onto a possible unknown associate of the late murderer of over two hundred victims. The twists and turns take you deep into the minds of the hunter and those preyed upon, revealing the fine line between morality and revenge.