A review by thebeardedpoet
The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne

5.0

Professor Theo Cray, biologist and professor, starts out as a suspect in the murder of a former student. But then it appears the woman was killed by a bear. Cray puts his science knowledge to work to analyze whether this really was a bear killing or a murder made to look like it. The later is right and the cops are blind to the fact they have a serial killer on their hands. So Dr. Theo Cray obsessively sets out the uncover the truth and almost single-handedly hunts the serial killer. Our amateur detective is socially inept and he's especially terrible at navigating interactions with law enforcement. Basically the cops suspect him, pity him, and manhandle him because he is working against all their assumptions about what is really going on. The science aspects are fascinating, particularly his computer program MAAT used to create models of the serial killers path and where the bodies are hidden. The tension builds throughout, leading to an exciting and quite violent ending. My wife Christi was so tense hearing me read the last quarter of the book she insisted I pause before each chapter and sing her a happy song!