MINIMAL

by Phillip R. Hall

The Count is unleashed! A serial killer has the police on edge. The Count's victims are identified by the tags he left draped around their necks bearing a single designation: a number. Each removed organ was carefully wrapped in plastic, labeled, and the piece-meal corpse was left to be purposefully found. Previously, victims One and Two were located, Four has just been discovered, and pretty, young Bree Wilson has disappeared. Could she be Next? With precious little to go on, Detective Zac Toumille and his partner, Jenny Clark, are dragged along in a media circus as the nightmare continues--all in the hope to end the reign of The Count and free the missing Bree before it's too late—before she becomes—MINIMAL.

248 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2013

About the author

Reality sidelines ambition. As a result, I have pretty much ended my writing "career," such as it is.

I do hope you enjoy that which is available. There may not be more in the future. Such is life.

The official Facebook page is closed.
The official Twitter is closed -- I can't delete it on here because of recurrent errors when attempting to do so.

The only way you can contact me now is via email, and that is at memoriesofthedead@gmail.com

To all you indie authors out there: keep up the good fight!

To all you reviewers out there....review more. We need them.

And to everyone, I give thanks.

Reviews

[Justin Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet 'The Count' a serial killer unlike any other before him. Meticulous, calculating, and highly intelligent. He leaves absolutely no traces on his victims leaving Detectives Zac Toumille and Jenny Clark with nothing to work with. Minimal begins with the detectives discovering Number 4, one of the Count's victims. Like Number's One and Two, Number 4 has been dismembered with surgical skill. As of this moment, the still undiscovered inevitable Number 3 remains unfound. Zac and Jenny race against time to identify the killer before he strikes again, unfortunately he already has, he has acquired Number 6.
With Number 6, the Count hopes to complete his masterpiece, what his masterpiece is will shock and sicken you in the most delightful of ways, and the culmination of his work will leave you breathless as it comes to a shocking conclusion.
I'd recommend Minimal to any crime drama fan, and it will fill a Dexter sized hole left since that series ended. Although the Count is a far more twisted individual than Dexter Morgan ever had to contend with, including the brilliant Trinity Killer.
All in all, a thrilling read, and highly recommended by me.
Pick it up and gear up for a helluva ride!
5 EPIC Stars!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm definitely a crime/mystery fan, but I have a hard time not giving away the goods. So, I'm going to just talk about everything Phillip Hall did right. I was hooked right from page one. Zac and Jenny are in the middle of a serial killer case, this one is a strange one though. The killer is chopping up the bodies already and numbering them with dog tags. They've found One and Two, but Zac's partner calls him and they've found another. When Zac gets to the scene, it's not Three, it's Four! They are stumped. The news media has dubbed him "The Count" and police don't like giving killers a nickname. He's left no evidence that is traceable but the coroner notices that he is getting better, but to what end, he has no clue. Zac is just thankful that he is not lead on this case, even though he is senior detective. Most likely they have given the lead to Jenny because he's still having a hard time dealing with his divorce, which is okay with him. They couldn't pay him to take the media backlash on this case, especially when another girl goes missing. The only thing that the coroner can provide is that the killer has medical training or is obtaining medical training. Zac and Jenny decide to look into the University Hospital since they are a teaching hospital and the recent victim is from the University. Can they find her in time or will she show up with a dog tag and bagged like the other victims? And where is number Three?

[Amanda Showalter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the fact that there is a serial killer on the loose. He is called The Count because he numbers all of his victims before treating them like a slaughterhouse would treat a pig. At the beginning 1,2, and 4 were found and a lady named Bree has disappeared. Detective Zac and Detective Jenny, his partner, are in a race against time to find Bree and find the killer.

Some of the writing seemed excessive in parts and I thought that some of the parts could have used less words to express the same conclusion. We didn't learn too much about the characters except for The Count and how much time he spends on his victims. It still is a bit of an edge of the seat type read and you will enjoy it if you like crime novels.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Minimal by Phillip R. Hall is a fantastic five star read. This serial killer mystery is told from all viewpoints, and is spell binding. I was afraid to look away. I love how the ending gave a glimpse into the possibility of more episodes...hint, hint! I was pleasantly surprised at the depth to all of the characters, even Bree. Very well done indeed.

[Phillip Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second novel.

[Denise Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, fire your editor! This book is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Although some may find it fairly easy to read imagining a story like this is horrendous! If I had my way I would have the author yank this book and at least fix the spelling and grammar. It's stalled here and there, all the storylines are not firing equally...if you don't mind reading through the errors, the story is scary and unthinkable and sort of like the TV show Dexter but without the lovable character of Dexter in it. If you like to read creepy terrifying stories this is for you.