Fatal Intrusion
Fatal Intrusion (Sanchez & Heron #1)
By: Jeffery Deaver & Isabella Maldonado
[Fulfills the prompt: ‘Book with a title that would make a good excuse for being late’ for the Shelf Reflection 2026 Reading Challenge]
“The man lying at his feet hunted snakes, but this time he’d been the one hunted. And by a far superior predator— a spider.”
If you didn’t have arachnophobia before, you might after reading this book. The antagonist, aka Spider (a person, not the creature), is a serial killer who fashions his kills like those of various spider species (the creatures). I was blissfully unaware of some of these facts and now my bliss has been stolen.
Not only did it remind me of my spider fears, but it also unlocked some new fears in regards to cyber security and hackers. So that’s neat.
I’m now concerned that the customer representatives I speak to on the phone about my appliance warranty is going to use my personal information to plan an attack and then plant fake emails in my inbox to distract the police from finding my suffocated body. But whatevs. I’m cool. It’s cool. It’s not real. Is it real?
Serial killer and thriller books don’t usually bother me because I know that it’s NOT REAL. But this book felt on the edge of reality because I don’t actually know what the hacker scene is out there. Can peoples do these things right now?!
The real problem in this book— which I can’t reveal— is crazy scary. How can people live with themselves when they do these things?
I just want to keep believing that my email is secure and my locks will keep the bad guys out.
It was bad timing that while reading I also happened to watch a YouTube video (which I hardly ever do) about the potential partnership with Ring doorbells and sidewalk cams to use for facial recognition and some sort of neighborhood watch collective that sounds like a really terrible invasion of privacy.
“The dangers of video surveillance and facial recognition occupied three solid hours in his course.”
Jake Heron would be turning over in his grave right now. (If he were real and also dead).
This book was a little more gruesome and disturbing than I was expecting. I’ve read a lot of Isabella Maldonado books— she’s one of my auto-reads which is why we’re here— and her books have some disturbing serial killers, but there was just something about this book that felt different.
Maybe it was Deaver’s contribution? It had twice as much swearing as Maldonado’s ‘usual’ amount. It’s hard to put a finger on why this book felt worse. Maybe it’s just the spiders. I don’t know. But I do think there will be some readers that might not get into this one because of some of the disturbing parts.
ANYWAY.
Overall, this story, set in California, had a bit of a slow start but there were some great twists and turns that ratcheted the intrigue and conflict up in the second half when you suddenly realize that things aren’t what they seem.
This book had layers and I liked that.
I also liked the partnership between Sanchez and Heron.
Carmen Sanchez’s skills, intellect, and character are pretty on par with Maldonado’s other series (Nina Guerrera and Daniela Vega). She’s the tough but brilliant federal agent who will stop at nothing to capture the killer. Also because the killer attacked her sister, but she would have done it anyway, you just know.
Professor Jacoby Heron is a cyber security genius who can write righteous code (that’s what it’s called, I’m not tapping into my inner-Crush) and is obsessed with ‘points of potential intrusion.’ But it’s precisely this intrusion knowledge that is essential to identify who the killer is.
“‘The first step toward analyzing a crime is identifying the Points of Potential Intrusion. How the victims were selected and targeted. That’ll lead to the perp’s motives and eventually identities. We need to keep looking for PPIs. They’re there, and I can find them. It’s what I do.’”
Of course, it’s not just any partnership. We learn there is some sort of history between the two that they will need to resolve.
“‘Active dislike bordering on open hostility… but we trust each other.’”
But considering it’s a series, you know it somehow works out because they’ll be together on another case in the future. And beware, it could get romantic (based on all the sexual tension talked about in this book).
I do think the reader gets to know Heron better than Sanchez. Heron has a more interesting personality. He is quirky and funny. Maybe it’s because Heron has a civilian role and we only get Sanchez ‘on the job.’ We get some snippets between her and her sister that try to add depth, but largely her character just feels a little one-dimensional compared to Heron’s.
Hopefully in the next one we can see some of her flaws or her quirks, a little more personality.
There is also something with her family that is left unresolved in this book and I hope that gets picked up in the next one too. That will probably help shape her into a more interesting person.
Some other random thoughts and comments:
Most books leave the villain nameless and mysterious because it’s another character in the book that you would least suspect. This is not one of those books.
This one is about the chase. The reader knows the name of the killer pretty much right away. I’m not always a fan of that because it feels like it removes too much mystery. But this one is less about who the guy is and more about what he’s part of. The mystery is in the game of cat and mouse and if they uncover what’s really going on. It worked okay here.
If you’re wondering about potential points of intrusion, here’s some of what Heron covers in his class: “Crime, for one. All criminals intrude. Then war… Then there’s political intrusion. All laws and regulations affect us, and some consider those intrusive. Government snooping? Intrusion. Corporate data mining? Intrusion. And what about religion? When does a comforting sect step so far into your life you find yourself in a cult or a terrorist cell?”
Also, “humor was one of the most dangerous forms of intrusion. If you made people laugh, you owned them.”
See? Isn’t this fun? We can even be afraid of funny people!
Similar to the points of intrusion is geographical profiling. I loved this reference because it reminded me of Steven James’ serial killer series The Patrick Bowers files which is so good and the main killer-catcher-guy (Patrick Bowers… like Jack Bauer… but… Patrick…) does geographical profiling for the FBI and it’s awesome.
I probably already knew this but I verified that this is real-life-happening-today. Electronic detection canines are real. It’s wild! They can sniff out a chemical component used to create electronic devices. I’m not a dog-lover, but I love that dogs can do this. And that someone figured out that dogs could do this.
Another thing I learned is the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. There is only one way through a labyrinth, you get to the middle eventually. But a maze has branches off and dead ends: “A maze could trap you forever.” Does this have any bearing on the book? Nope. But you can annoyingly correct the next person who uses them interchangeably now.
Recommendation
So I had The Grave Artist (the next book in this series) on my to-read list without realizing it was a series so I obviously had to come back and read this one first. They do set the next book up quite well so sure, I’ll read the next one. Let’s see what other security blankets Deaver and Maldonado can destroy for me. Should be fun.
Sarcasm aside, I will read the next one, but depending how that one is, I may not read further. I will probably just stick to Maldonado’s solo books which are somehow less disturbing for me. I don’t make the rules.
If you have an intense fear of spiders or are grossed out by someone possibly being boiled up like a stew or would like to avoid knowing about all the cyber-scares out there haunting us, then this book could be a fatal intrusion on your life you could probably do without.
For all others: good luck.
Keep an eye out for my review of book two and we’ll see where my list of fears is at.
[Content Advisory: 22 f-words, 43 s-words, 12 b-words; some sexual innuendo and crudeness]
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