The Tucson Hunt in A Brother's Obsession

Detectives Dan Felty and MacKenzie Bell face an escalating series of killings in Christopher Coates's A Brother's Obsession. The Tucson victims appear to have been chosen at random, making motive a pressing problem. The book also introduces Evan Brown, whose sister's death has continued to trouble him for more than a decade.

A pattern the detectives cannot yet see

Apparent randomness makes it difficult to anticipate the next victim. Felty and Bell need to understand what connects the crimes while the number of dead continues to rise. Each additional death makes the search more urgent, while the apparent lack of a pattern leaves the detectives with little reassurance about where the danger will surface next.

Evan's grief and guilt form part of the story's personal background. His inability to save his sister remains a source of anguish for him. The novel places that unresolved personal history alongside the detectives' immediate problem of understanding the current murders.

The investigation becomes a direct threat

As the detectives close in, the killer strikes back and leaves one of them fighting for his life. The pursuit is no longer only about protecting potential victims elsewhere; it has reached the investigators themselves.

Someone from the murderer's past may offer the connection Felty and Bell have been missing. The attack on a detective makes that possibility urgent for the investigation and for the partners themselves. Understanding the earlier relationship could supply a direction while the threat of another killing remains immediate.