ARC Review: Head Cases by John McMahon

Head Cases
Author: John McMahon
Publication: Minotaur Books (January 28, 2025)

Description: Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying―and commercial―series debut.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?

With an enigmatic case that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and a thoroughly engaging ensemble cast, John McMahon’s Head Cases is a triumph.

My Thoughts: HEAD CASES was an engaging and twisty thriller with an intriguing main character.

Gardner Camden is an FBI Agent with the PAR (Patterns and Recognition) unit of the FBI. He seems to be somewhere on the Autism Spectrum but had honed his abilities to make himself invaluable to the FBI when tough, "unsolvable" cases come in. 

This story begins when a body is discovered - the body of a serial killer. The only problem is that this killer was supposed to have died in a fire years earlier. Gardner was on the original case. Then a second serial killer - this one recently released from prison - is found. Then a third murder victim - a self-confessed serial killer who was on trial - is found. 

Gardner and the rest of his quirky colleagues are on the trail of a serial killer who kills serial killers and who seems to know what the team is doing and manages to stay one step ahead. 

Throw in some inter-FBI politics and Gardner's relationship with his mother who is in a nursing home with memory issues and his seven-year-old daughter who is living with her grandmother, and you have a man leading a complex life.

This was excellent. I look forward to the second book in the series coming in 2026. I also want to find the author's earlier books. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.