Pariah

Lisa Arsenault is a public-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

It is difficult to categorize this novel, as it falls within the genres
of science fiction, murder mystery, detective novel, and thriller. It
begins in a straightforward mystery-story style and readers are lulled
into believing that they will simply be called upon to witness the
unfolding of a conventional whodunit. Gradually, however, elements of
science fiction (or at least the paranormal) are introduced, heightening
the tight suspense that is the pervasive characteristic of this novel.

Vallée skillfully plays his two chief protagonists—the mass murderer
and the NYPD policeman who is determined to identify him and bring him
to justice—against each other. A kind of intimacy, based on their
mutual appreciation of their unique and abnormal situation, develops
between them. The result is a cat-and-mouse scenario. The strange and
paranormal twists and turns that their relationship takes contribute to
the suspense. The harrowing conclusion is a classic of the horror genre:
it is the logical ending that all the ramifications of plot have been
building toward, but for all its essential aptness it is still a
shocker.

Readers who enjoy mystery and detective novels and are willing to
suspend their disbelief and push the boundaries of credibility to
encompass science-fictional devices as inherent and necessary parts of
the plot will enjoy this novel.