A short, quick summary of The Screaming Room might read like this: A trio of investigators, while wrestling with personal demons, hunts for a pair of serial killers. Fortunately, for fans of thriller fiction, The Screaming Room is not that simple.

Having just buried his wife, who lingered in a coma for six years, NYPD Lieutenant John Driscoll thinks work will provide the distraction he needs to keep from dwelling on his loss. It's just as well, because incestuous siblings are on a killing spree, and Lieutenant Driscoll, commander of the Manhattan homicide unit, is assigned by Mayor Reirdon to investigate the crimes.

The victims, brutally murdered, scalped, and artfully posed, have two things in common. All of them are tourists, and each of them harbors a dark secret. The secrets are what draw them to the killers and seal their fate.

With close friend Detective Cedric Thomlinson and Sergeant Margaret Aligante—a woman for whom Driscoll feels an attraction—giving able assistance, the investigative team wastes no time in determining the killers' identities. But tracking them down proves to be another matter. Smart, well financed, and highly motivated, the not-so-identical identical twins remain elusive.

When one of the victims turns out to be the heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, NYC's mayor steps up the pressure on Driscoll to apprehend the killers. And when the victim's father, Malcolm Shewster, offers additional resources to help bring the killers to justice, Driscoll welcomes it. But what Driscoll doesn't know is that Shewster has a hidden agenda of his own, and that it will threaten the NYPD investigation, putting his life and the lives of his investigators in jeopardy.

Thomas O'Callaghan's The Screaming Room is a fascinating, exciting read. The short, fast-paced chapters will keep you turning pages long past the time when you should have turned out the light.

New York City native Thomas O'Callaghan lives in Belle Harbor, New York, with his wife, Eileen. A CUNY graduate and author of the acclaimed debut novel Bone Thief, he's hard at work on his next John Driscoll thriller. Visit his Web site at www.thomasocallaghan.com

Review by Phil Hanson, for FSB Associates