Formerly an FBI profiler, Hugo Marston now works at the United States Embassy in London. His new position as head of security brings him the challenging assignment of protecting a famous movie star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro. While the couple is filming a movie, they kill a local farmer in a hit and run accident, then disappear.

Obsessed with unsolved crimes, Hugo visits a London alley to “make contact” with the victim and killer of a hundred-year-old murder that was never solved. While he was there, he decided to visit the old cemetery next door where he unexpectedly found a hooded body hanging from a tree. Two hours later, he was told the body was Ginny Ferro, the missing actress. Harper was nowhere to be seen.

At first Hugo hooks up with Lord Graham Stopford-Pendrith, a member of parliament who is interested in helping Hugo, and later with a local detective. Harry Walton, a freelance reporter for a tabloid, wants to work with him as well.

Eventually, though, Hugo decides he can better find the missing husband on his own. When more bodies start showing up and another victim is left in a coma, Hugo wonders if a serial killer is on the loose or are the deaths unrelated.

The killer taunts Hugo and challenges him to be present when the murderer carries out, in public, his biggest act yet.

The Button Man, a Hugo Marston Novel by author Mark Pryor was written as a prequel to the first three in this series. He also wrote a true-crime book, As She Lay Sleeping.

The story starts with Hugo near an alley as the notorious London fog begins to roll in, and which sets the tone and atmosphere of the novel. The Button Man is one of those stories that you might not want to read when you are all alone on a dark and windy night.

The author is adept at setting scenes giving the reader the feeling they are a part of the mystery and that they will run into one of the characters at any time.

This page-turner will keep readers guessing as to who Hugo is really after, and why. Who is killing so many people unrelated to one another? The author has written a story that gives us a peek into the past, and future novels should bring us up to date with his latest tales.

If you are interested, Mark Pryor’s novels are available at Amazon.com.

A special thank you goes to Seventh Street Books for providing us with a complimentary copy of this book.