A true crime author helps in a desperate hunt for a killer in this dark and twisted thriller from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the “clear heir to Stephen King.”

Perfect for fans of cat and mouse serial killer thrillers like The Butcher and the Wren and The Jigsaw Man.

Ellie Isles first became obsessed with the I-64 murders when she saw her own face on one of the victims. Identical to every detail, the woman wasn’t her, but she could have been. Compelled to discover the story of her dopplegänger’s death, Ellie wrote a bestselling true crime book about the serial killer, dubbed “the Spider.”

Four years later, the Spider still hasn’t been caught, and his victim count is climbing. Many of the bodies remain unidentified, but with Ellie’s online network of true crime followers, that’s slowly changing. Together they’ve pooled information to create a massive database that tracks people at risk of becoming Jane and John Does–the homeless, the drug addicted, and the downtrodden–with the hopes that if they become victims, they might at least be identified.

Now that Ellie has successfully identified multiple victims, the law enforcement task force tracking down the Spider pulls her in to help–and after Ellie’s therapist is arrested for the murders, she is more determined than ever to help catch the Spider.

With striking prose and a horror flair, Spider to the Fly is an engrossing serial killer thriller, perfect for fans of The Whisper Man.

I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Serial killer thrillers are one of my favorites, and this book checked all the boxes. I’ve read three of Markert’s novels now, and this one reminded me why I keep coming back. The core stories are just so damn creative.

This time around, we are dealing with a killer known as “the spider”, and our lead, Ellie Isles, has a strange tie to the killings that earned the killer their nickname. Years before, she saw a victim’s face. It was a face she recognized. It was her own. Not literally, but the resemblance was so uncanny that it shook her. That connection drove her to write a bestselling true crime book about the case. But four years later, the Spider is still out there. Bodies keep piling up. And the tension is rising because Ellie feels she is getting closer to figuring out who the Spider is, thanks to her web of online armchair detectives. But will he get to her first?

We’ve seen thrillers that hinge on true crime obsession before, but what makes this work is how much Ellie feels like a whole person. She’s not a cardboard “troubled writer” archetype. She’s smart, vulnerable, persistent, and sometimes blindsided by her own emotions. Her backstory holds weight, and I believed everything she did and every choice she made.

The story never drags, but it doesn’t rush either. The Spider and the Fly motif creeps in slowly. It’s a little unsettling, which I enjoyed. I loved how the novel played with the idea of predators and prey, and how thin the line can be between hunting and being hunted.

The cast around Ellie feels grounded, too. Nobody is wasted, and nobody feels like a convenient red herring dropped in for shock value. This is a book that trusts the reader. The tension builds from the story itself, not from gimmicks. By the time the final act arrives, it’s chilling in the way you hope a good serial killer novel will be.

The true crime angle gives the book a modern edge without making it feel trendy. Ellie’s online network of followers digging into databases felt familiar, but it also grounded the story. It gave the story a sense of community. It also made the stakes higher because it wasn’t just about Ellie versus the Spider. It was about the web of people who could be drawn in, willingly or not.

If you’ve grown weary of gimmicky suspense novels that try too hard to shock you, I’m happy to say that this book is a refreshing, creepy, and thoroughly satisfying read. Especially if you love serial killer thrillers. And if you’ve not yet read a book by J.H. Markert, I recommend checking him out. He writes thrillers that respect the readers and focus on character and story instead of shiny distractions and cheap twists.