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In a city drowning in its own despair, one man hears the cries for help as literal commands. Leo is not like other people. He doesn't understand sarcasm, metaphor, or hyperbole. To him, the world is a series of straightforward problems, each with a logical, efficient solution. So when he encounters a man on a bridge who laments, "I wish I were dead, but I'm too scared to do it, " Leo sees only a problem in need of a fix.
His solution is swift, clean, and, in his mind, an act of supreme kindness. The city sees a monster. Detective Mara Harding sees something far more terrifying. She sees a pattern. A brilliant, unassuming 22-year-old who is meticulously "solving" the pain of others. A desperate artist who wishes he were famous is found in a tragic "accident" that makes his career. Each victim's final, desperate wish becomes their chilling reality.
Harding is the only one who understands the killer's twisted logic. As Leo's mission escalates from helping individuals to "curing the sickness" of the entire city by targeting a ruthless slumlord, Harding finds herself in a desperate race against time. To stop him, she cannot use the law or morality. She must enter his perfectly ordered world and beat him at his own game. She must use cold, hard logic to prove that his perfect solutions are creating an even more catastrophic problem.
A taut, gripping psychological thriller that will leave you questioning the very nature of empathy, The Literalist is a chilling exploration of a mind that sees murder as a mercy and kindness as a flaw.