Author: John McMahon
Series: Head Cases #2
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery &Thrillers
Format: Audio ALC and Kindle ARC
Narrator: Will Darron
Length: 10 hrs 20 mins
No. of Pages: 400
Date of Publication: January 13, 2026
My Rating: 5 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
In this sequel to McMahon's electrifying series debut, Head Cases, Gardner Camden and the PAR team return to investigate potentially connected cases.
FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He 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.
PAR’s latest case involves a militia group stockpiling weapons. When their confidential informant in the case is killed, it quickly becomes clear that the militia did not kill him.
As the squad looks into the evidence surrounding his murder, an unidentified man is caught on camera with their informant. This mystery man’s picture is connected to another case at the FBI, an unsolved series of murdered women, buried in the ground in north Florida. Could they have uncovered a serial killer? And if so, what is his connection to their C.I.?
As PAR juggles an investigation into both the dead women and the militia, they enroll a new informant, only to find the case escalating in dangerous ways. How will PAR handle a case that increasingly looks like a terrorist plot? And in the serial case, with no puzzles or witnesses, and few leads, how will a group set up to decode riddles be successful?
FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He 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.
PAR’s latest case involves a militia group stockpiling weapons. When their confidential informant in the case is killed, it quickly becomes clear that the militia did not kill him.
As the squad looks into the evidence surrounding his murder, an unidentified man is caught on camera with their informant. This mystery man’s picture is connected to another case at the FBI, an unsolved series of murdered women, buried in the ground in north Florida. Could they have uncovered a serial killer? And if so, what is his connection to their C.I.?
As PAR juggles an investigation into both the dead women and the militia, they enroll a new informant, only to find the case escalating in dangerous ways. How will PAR handle a case that increasingly looks like a terrorist plot? And in the serial case, with no puzzles or witnesses, and few leads, how will a group set up to decode riddles be successful?
MY THOUGHTS:
Sometimes it’s the cover, or even a single line in a blurb, that tells me I’m about to read a book I’ll love. In the case of Inside Man by John McMahon, it was instant recognition. Gardner Camden immediately brought to mind one of my all-time favorite television characters—Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. When I read, “FBI agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles,” I was sold.
I also learned from the blurb that Inside Man is a sequel to Head Cases, so I headed straight to Libby and downloaded the audiobook before starting this one. While this series isn’t about Spencer Reid or the BAU, it centers on Gardner Camden and the fictional PAR unit—Patterns and Recognition. The differences are there, but the similarities were enough that I inhaled both books in a single day.
For readers unfamiliar with Criminal Minds, the BAU is the Behavioral Analysis Unit. In McMahon’s series, PAR fills a similar role, and reading these books transported me right back to those years of watching the show. Gardner often works through the complexities of cases largely on his own, though he’s paired with other like-minded agents when needed. This contrasts with the BAU’s team-based dynamic, but the analytical depth and intensity are just as compelling.
The PAR’s latest case all but blew up when Gardner and his current partner arrive at the home of one of his confidential informants. They discover that the informant has been murdered, and Gardner immediately jumps into damage control. The situation was delicate. The FBI was investigating a militia group and the very real danger that the group was stockpiling weapons. Gardner is certain there is a connection.
What truly sets this series apart is Gardner Camden himself. He is undeniably brilliant, yet emotionally stilted in a way that makes him fascinating. To many in the agency, he comes across as robotic, but beneath that exterior is someone deeply human: a devoted single father to a precocious eight-year-old daughter, and a man acutely aware of the devastating consequences of violence, even referencing the reality of school shootings. Gardner’s mind works like that of a master chess player, and that analytical brilliance is exactly what’s needed to stop the killer at the center of this case.
Brilliant protagonist. Brilliant book. And sadly, an all-too-familiar real-life scenario. I hope that we see Gardner again in future installments of this series.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
The New York Times Book Review called McMahon “one of those rare writers who seems to have sprung out of nowhere” and whose debut novel is “pretty much perfect.”
In his role as an ad agency creative director, he has won a Gold Clio for his work on Fiat, and he’s written a Super Bowl spot for Alfa Romeo.
He currently lives in Southern California with his family and two rescue animals.
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