Review of Inside Man (Head Cases #2) by John McMahon

The second book in the series takes big swings with two large-scale mysteries (one that is hauntingly realistic and one that feels more outlandish) that only the wonderfully peculiar, genius PAR unit members of the FBI can solve. The mysteries take most of the focus, but we also witness some character development that I loved.

The initial installment of John McMahon's police procedural series introduced Gardner Camden, a genius, socially awkward leader, and the rest of his special team of FBI investigators who reinvent methods of finding their culprit. That first book was a smart, intriguing, and satisfying mystery.

In the second book in the Head Cases series, Camden is back on the job--with two enormous, strange, urgent, intersecting cases that it seems only the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) Unit can possibly unravel.

The story twists and turns through confidential informants, militias arming themselves with black-market guns, a serial killer, and missing women with something bizarre in common.

The two mysteries feel gigantic, with extensive ripples and effects. Their scale almost overshadows the character development I loved in book one. One of the mysteries is so strange and horrifying (and, seemingly, outlandish), I found myself physically cringing as I heard aspects of a big reveal of its specifics late in the book.

But McMahon emphasizes the family connections for Gardner here as he does in Head Cases, seamlessly harkens back to important interpersonal issues and complications that helped shape the first book, and, ultimately, also allows some minor Gardner-related romantic groundwork to build. The personalities and individual strengths of each of the PAR members from book one shine and contribute to the solving of the complex mysteries at hand. Multiple characters have anguishingly close calls with death.

I read Inside Man as a library audbiobook through Libby. Will Damron was excellent as the narrator. I first heard about this series in a roundup of mystery novels recommended by national security agents.

I'm in for all the books in this series. Please keep them coming, John McMahon!

More Mystery Books to Check Out

John McMahon is also the author of Head Cases, the first in this mystery series, as well as the P. T. Marsh series and other books.

For more Bossy reviews of stories involving law enforcement officers, please check out the titles at this link. And for more mysteries I've reviewed, check out these lists and titles.