Title: The Mousetrap Murders

Author: Abraham Lopez

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

 

The Mousetrap Murders by Abraham Lopez opens with Julian Gutierrez waking up in his car with no memory of how he got there, only to be arrested less than a day later for the murder of Kayla Reynolds. Years later, he is on death row, but when new information comes forward from a witness who claims Julian is innocent, proving his innocence falls into the hands and clever minds of his sister, Val, and her husband, Cal Cooper. While the Coopers race against the clock as Julian’s execution date approaches, what they unravel is a much more complex and twisted murder plot carefully constructed and executed by a man who calls himself the Fulcrum.

To be sure, The Mousetrap Murders grips the reader from the very start. With a riveting opening where a man finds himself without a clue as to how he wound up in his car in the middle of nowhere at night and the uneasy feeling both he and the reader experience that something is not right, Lopez knows how to get the audience’s attention and keep it. A story needs a strong hook to keep the reader invested, and the author excels at this. Any good mystery will keep the reader guessing until the end, turning the pages to find the next clue, and again, Lopez has this formula down.

We know Julian Gutierrez likely is not guilty of murdering Kayla Reynolds, but like Val and Cal Cooper, we are left scratching our heads, wondering how she was killed. Sprinkled throughout the novel are chapters that switch the point of view to an elusive villain called the Fulcrum. While this foe certainly seems convinced of his own genius, he is also chilling and disturbing.

The reader may find some material shocking, so caution is advised. However, that said, Lopez crafts a truly terrifying villain. The Fulcrum writes out his manifesto of how he hopes to murder and thus achieve both his greatness and prove something to society about racial oppression and Marxism. Over decades, this serial killer has murdered several young women and framed others as the guilty party, all of whom are people of color, yet he leaves clues along his killing trail that can lead a careful, clever sleuth to him.

Cal and Val take on this role. Most of the story is theirs, and we are rooting for them to stop this heinous killer and save not only Julian but two other men on death row for murders undertaken by the Fulcrum. For lovers of mysteries and sleuthing, The Mousetrap Murders provides plenty of fodder. Lopez clearly researched how to create coded messages and hide them. Although some of the sleuthing and clues feel contrived or unrealistic at times, thus slowing down the pace of the narrative, these details will be enjoyed by the right audience, and Lopez likely had these types of readers in mind when he wrote this story.

The Mousetrap Murders is a riveting page-turner that keeps the reader engaged from the first words. Abraham Lopez has created a chilling, disturbing villain alongside clever clues that make for a fast-paced read. For lovers of murder mysteries and sleuthing, with a splash of thriller, The Mousetrap Murders is an excellent choice.

 

 

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