R. John Dingle

“If Kiss the Girls by James Patterson and Blake Pierce’s He Kills ever had a child, it should be named Wings of Madness.”

– BookTrib.com

Serial killers, like madness and gravity, just need a small push…

The body of a third young woman is discovered in a field outside Pawtucket Falls in New England the day FBI agent and profiler Gus Wheeler and his partner arrive to investigate a string of murders. The killings seem random, yet each victim was last seen in a club in the city’s Music Row, a scene Gus is uniquely qualified to navigate.

Camera footage shows the most recent victim flirting with the moody bassist of a popular cover band. Gus knows the former prodigy from his time in the New Orleans jazz scene, but the suspect’s memory is hazy, likely due to his rock star lifestyle. Complicating their inquiry, there’s no record of any of the victims leaving the clubs—with the bassist or alone. So where were they taken and how?

A serial killer’s at work, but as they circle their suspect, the killer strikes first making it personal for Gus. And with time running out, Gus is forced to play a madman’s game.

Editorial Reviews

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Natalia Kaval, BookTrib.com

Hunting a Serial Killer Gets Personal in thrilling Sequel to Karma Never Sleeps

A captivating and chilling thriller with a whirlwind of psychological chaos and intriguing suspense.

R. John Dingle, the author of Karma Never Sleeps, returns with another page-turning thriller in the Gus Wheeler FBI Thriller series. In Wings of Madness, readers are taken on a suspenseful journey filled with psychological twists. FBI Agent Gus Wheeler and his spirited female partner pursue a psychopathic killer preying on young women in Pawtucket Falls, Massachusetts.

After spending several weeks on tour performing with Wynton Marsalis, substituting for their sick bassist, Agent Gus Wheeler anticipates enjoying some well-deserved downtime with his girlfriend, Mel. However, his plans are interrupted when his supervisor at the FBI informs him of a new homicide case that requires his unique expertise.

Chasing Down a Serial Killer

The new case involves separate murders of two young women, whose bodies were found in open fields in Pawtucket Falls. Both women were reported as last seen at different clubs in Music Row, an area known for hosting live music events in Pawtucket Falls. Apart from these murders, there’s a third missing woman who’s also been reported as last seen in the same area.

During the investigation, the third missing woman’s body is discovered in an open field outside Pawtucket Falls. Despite the victims’ differing appearances and backgrounds, three disturbing links connect the murders. First, all were last seen on Music Row. Second, each victim bears an X-shaped cut on the neck. Lastly, a pattern involving their driver’s licenses emerges: the first victim’s license photo is found lodged in the second victim’s throat, and the second victim’s license photo is found in the third victim’s throat.

Soon, Gus and Vanessa narrow their list of suspects to four members of an ’80s music cover band called The Bowers Street Band. While struggling to understand the killer’s motives, they’re also baffled by how the killer was able to lure the victims from the clubs without detection. Just as they are about to close in on their main suspect, the investigation takes a deadly twist that makes the case more personal for Gus. To make matters worse, working with the main suspect proves fruitless as the suspect’s mental state becomes increasingly unstable. Can Gus find a way to rescue the fourth victim in time before the deranged killer ruthlessly claims her life?

Crisp, Suspenseful Writing

Wings of Madness is a captivating and chilling thriller with a whirlwind of psychological chaos and intriguing suspense. Just like the first book in the series, I loved Dingle’s writing style in this one, too. The writing is vividly descriptive, has realistic dialogue and a well-crafted setting. Dingle’s writing mixes everyday life with underlying menaces that pull you into the characters’ world. For instance, the mundane task of doing laundry takes an ominous turn when Taylor finds a victim’s driver’s license in his clothes, which subtly escalates the mood from daily routine to tension, anxiety and foreboding.

As the story progressed, the setting became more than just a backdrop. It became a reflection of the narrative’s thematic concerns and reinforced the psychological unease at the heart of the story. For example, the decay in the basement and the band’s rehearsal space parallels the novel’s exploration of hidden truths and agendas.

I loved the character development in this book, especially that of Taylor Franklin. While he did not always exhibit a straightforward desire to do the right thing, he strived to make positive choices (despite his numerous missteps) to improve his life. I found him as an outstanding and highly relatable character whose heartbreaking evolution is worthy of our sympathy. His relationship with his mother and that of his sister are also portrayed creatively and realistically.

A Chilling Thriller You’ll Love

As with the first book, I knew uncovering the killer’s identity in this one wouldn’t be straightforward. True to form, the revelation was just as shocking. I also appreciated that the author didn’t overcomplicate things by delving deeply into the killer’s psychological motives. Psychopaths simply exist, and evil often defies explanation.

If Kiss the Girls by James Patterson and Blake Pierce’s Before He Kills ever had a child, it should be named Wings of Madness. This character-driven, chilling, and emotionally charged thriller creatively blends psychological depth with heart-pounding suspense. If you loved Karma Never Sleeps, you will love this one, too.

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Bella G. Wright, BestThrillers.com

The Bottom Line: A hypnotic, moody and suspenseful serial killer thriller that pulls you into its darkness and refuses to let you get away.

Wings of Madness opens in a damp stone cellar on the outskirts of Pawtucket Falls, Massachusetts, where Michelle Townsend wakes to the terrifying realization that she is being held captive. It soon gets worse, as her abductor evidently takes pleasure in forcing his victims to run so he can hunt them down. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Sadie Hogan goes missing after last being seen with Taylor Franklin, a struggling musician whose once-promising career has devolved into 80s cover band gigs, substance-fueled lapses and unsettling blackouts.

Enter Gus Wheeler, the FBI profiler first introduced in R. John Dingle’s series debut Karma Never Sleeps. Wings of Madness finds Gus backstage after a jazz club gig in Boston. He’s just finished up a tour playing bass for jazz legend Wynton Marsalis when Jeff Cattagio, the head of the FBI’s Boston Office, approaches him. Jeff explains that three women are dead or missing. All of them were last seen in a downtown club area called Music Row.

Thrust back into the demands of a federal investigation, Wheeler and his partner Vanessa Lambert are drawn into the Pawtucket Falls murders. But the investigation goes through Taylor Franklin, whose claim that he doesn’t remember meeting one of the victims doesn’t sit well with Gus. Is Taylor a witness, a target or a suspect?

In his sophomore novel, Dingle delivers the convincing procedural scaffolding of a federal manhunt while layering his hero into someone who is far more than he appeared to be in book one. Like Daniel Silva’s longtime hero Gabriel Allon – both painter and Mossad operative – Gus Wheeler gains definition through artistry. His dual identity enriches Dingle’s narrative significantly. Just as Allon’s eye for brushstrokes sharpens his perception of intelligence work, Wheeler’s ear for tone and rhythm informs the precision with which he approaches an investigation. In Wings of Madness, the deconstruction of a bassline and the reconstruction of a crime scene are presented as parallel acts of discipline, each requiring patience, craft, and relentless attention to detail. Readers may also be reminded of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, a detective whose jazz sensibilities subtly shape his worldview.

The supporting cast amplifies Wheeler’s depth. Vanessa Lambert, with her sardonic wit and perceptive instincts, serves as both foil and partner, grounding Wheeler’s perfectionism in streetwise pragmatism. Dingle uses the characters orbiting Taylor Franklin – the aging bandmates, the sympathetic bartender, the grieving families of victims – to add texture to Pawtucket Falls, making it a setting as vivid as the New England towns of Dingle’s first novel.

With this second series entry, Dingle proves that Gus Wheeler is more than a one-case wonder: he is a series character with the range to carry investigations that are as psychologically incisive as they are suspenseful.

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Kirkus Reviews, kirkusreviews.com

Feds scour a New England town for a vicious killer stalking women in Dingle’s thriller. Gus Wheeler has just wrapped up a music tour after filling in for a jazz band’s sickly bass player. But before he can enjoy any downtime with his girlfriend, his day job as an FBI agent pulls him away. He and his partner, Vanessa Lambert, head to a Massachusetts town where two women have been murdered and a third has vanished. Although there are only a few similarities between the victims, all three went missing in the downtown live-music area called Music Row. The agents’ investigation quickly focuses on the Bowers Street Band, a local group that covers ’80s and ’90s songs; it seems that all four members have, in some capacity, mingled with the victims. When the culprit targets a person close to Gus, he has mere days to track them down before it’s too late. Dingle’s narrative, the second installment in his Gus Wheeler FBI Thriller series, is effectively concise as it zeroes in on Gus and Vanessa scrutinizing crime scenes, interviewing suspects, and piecing together evidence. The characters are dynamic—the investigative partners differ (Gus has to Google current slang just to keep up with Vanessa) as often as they mesh (“Vibe check,” Vanessa demands when she wants Gus’ read on a potential suspect). One of the Bowers Street Band members intermittently takes over the narrative as his recent lost memories (a possible side effect of a prescription drug) lead him to believe he’s the murderer; these chapters provide intriguing insight into a disoriented mind. The mystery remains strong and the killer isn’t easy to unmask; the final act pumps up the suspense as Gus’ smartphone counts down how much time an imperiled character has left. 

Razor-sharp sleuths headline this engaging whodunit.