THE VAN
John Ball said of this novel: "The series of bizarre and frightful murders described in the pages that follow is based on an actual case, the complete file of which is shat�tering reading."
The setting for the powerful story is the Los Angeles area. The van, a dark-colored one, basic to much of the horror, was not much of a van.
The many victims whose mutilated bodies were discovered were chosen hap�hazardly. There were two killers. The Los Angeles sheriff�s office and homicide bureau included many able, well-trained men, used to dealing with murders. But when the tapes the killers enjoyed making were found and played, they were the most horrifying piece of evidence the techni�cians had ever listened to.
The victims were always young ladies�often very young.
Working with the police department was Dr. Flavia de la Torre, a sociologist who had been given a grant to do a study on the incidence of serious crimes com�mitted by men on parole. She was an attractive woman who was an asset�but who wasn't really aware (were any of them?) of the criminal minds she'd be encountering.
The reader should be prepared, too, as he (or she) reads ahead.
