In Iris Johansen's The Killing Game, an FBI agent is discussing the identity of a serial killer when he says, "He could be anyone.

He could be a clerk who works for the phone company or the cop who stops you for speeding or a lawyer with access to court records." Later he adds, "Can you guess how many serial killers are out there?

We probably catch one in thirty. The dumb ones. The ones who make mistakes. The smart ones walk away and kill and kill again." In these lines of dialogue, Johansen summarizes some of the greatest fears that afflict American society—the fear of random violence that hides behind the faces of average people and the fact that we cannot seem to catch the perpetrators.

Johansen's novel is a taut narrative of a contest between forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and a serial...