Mosaics by E. E. Giorgi (Track Presius #2)

Mosaics is the second book in the Track Presius crime mystery series by the author E. E. Giorgi. I have already read and reviewed the first book, so I was delighted when the author send me the second one over the email with a request to review it as well.

The story picks up some time after the first one. This time Track (Ulysses)  has given up on working with the police and is doing PI stuff by himself. Of course he doesn’t miss the police work and his buddies, including Satish, at all, or at least so he tells himself.

Right until Satish gives him a call and pursuades him (quite easily, I might add) to come back to work as his help is dearly needed to catch a new ruthless killer. Why kid yourself – of course Track jumps at the opportunity to come back and do what he knows best: investigate, and above all track – with his nose, I mean.

Afterall we’ve already learned in the first book that Track got his nickname from his ability of tracking things with his nose due to a rare (or maybe one of a kind) genetical condition that turned him into a genetic chimera at the young age of 6. Now he has this super sensitive nose which allows him to smell every odor any person has come into contact not only now but in the relative recent past as well.

In this book the killer is named the Byzantine Strangler due to his particular calling card that he leaves at the scene of each crime: a set of glass mosaic tiles with code that needs deciphered for the killer to finally get caught (hence the title of the book).

Track goes on a hunt for the killer, but with each step that he gets closer to him he realized that he might, in fact, not be the hunter, but the hunted. The killer is obsessed with DNA and every victim (related to a common project they were working on) is but a tile closer to the very DNA Track is blessed with.

While working on the case, Track is plagued by strong pain which is seemingly related to his weird chimera genes that threaten his very existence. You know the story about taking the blue or the red pill yielding a different outcome depending on which you took. Except for Track the outcome might be the same – the delivery is what is different.

The story is suspenseful from the first page to the last. The writing is well crafted and the descriptions of Los Angeles make me feel that I’m there, watching things unfold with my own eyes. We meet again some characters from the previous book. Satish, his Indian philosophical partner who always has a story about his dad to tell, whether Track wants to hear it or not (and of course he always does) is a character that I enjoy reading about – I was always hooked on his stories, which were not only enchanting, but also carrying a point specifically for Track’s current dilemmas.

We also get to meet Diane again, Track’s big love. He knows not only every inch of her, but more than that – he knows every single scent that makes Diane who she is. They have a strong chemistry, but there is something that pulls them apart every time. Diane wants to move to the opposite end of the country, and those dialogues between Track and Diane regarding her move made me even chuckle a few times.

Track is just as clueless as me about genetics, so his doctor tells him what he needs to know in regular English, leaving out that strange medical jargon that docs are so well known for. I was glad about this, as it allowed me to read and learn about Track’s condition without feeling left out. I was in fact drawn to reading more about this chimerism genetic condition (was wondering whether it really exists or is just fiction – and yes it exists) and now the title of the book has suddenly revealed a second meaning as well 🙂

I really can’t say anything negative about this book. It was wonderful! Having read it last night, it left me wondering about Track’s physical condition – Will he become sicker or his genes will be his salvation and not his doom in the end afterall?

I’m left now waiting for the next book in the series with the hope that it will happen soon!

While it is the second book in the series, you can read it as a standalone. Track’s condition is well explained here so there are no hidden clues that should have been known from before.