Perfect Victim by Jay Bonansinga (‘Ulysses Grove’ series Book #4)

Paperback: 352 pages - Publisher: Pinnacle (December 1, 2008 ) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 078601878X - ISBN-13: 978-0786018789

 

Perfect Victim

by Jay Bonansinga

‘Ulysses Grove’ series Book #4

A slashed female corpse … a footprint, a tire track … a trail of blood in a crowded shopping mall. Even the most jaded cops are horrified by the carnage. But to seasoned FBI profiler Ulysses Grove, the evidence spells out a much more personal message – a threat that speaks to Grove alone…

METICULOUS KILLER…

He chooses his victims with care. He plans their murders with painstaking precision; he studies the most notorious slayers. He’s gone to extremes to achieve his goals – committed to fulfilling his destiny as history’s greatest serial killer…

With precious lives at stake, at his very soul on the line, Grove throws himself into the chase – and into a trap from which there’s no escape…

Review: Synopsis promises excitement – author failed to deliver.

Anyone who’s read my more recent reviews usually get a brief rundown of what I read, what I liked and disliked. With this one, I’m sorry, but I’m not wasting my time.

The synopsis had my attention, I figured this one was right down my alley. How misleading! The prologue and first couple of chapters had my attention. From then on, I had to force myself to read this book. For me, that’s not good – not good at all. I felt absolutely nothing for the characters: not for Ulysses, or his wife Maura, nor anyone else. One dimensional, no depth, no personality. The only one I actually liked was their toddler! The plot was ridiculous, unlikely and far-fetched.

One Amazon.com reviewer wrote: “Bonansinga’s protagonist is a ludicrous cross between Jesus Christ (think immaculate conception — no, really,) Sherlock Holmes and an African-American Batman. Sort of like an Anne Rice character, without the benefit of imagination, plot device and literary skill. And I use those terms loosely.” – Thank you, Anonyme from Oregon, I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

I had to wonder if perhaps I’d have liked the book more if I’d read the others in the series. All their synopsis’ sound good, but seeing as I really didn’t like the characters, nor the plot, in this one, I highly doubt I’ll go out of my way to get a copy. If it’s passed to me, that’s still a huge maybe.

And the ending… good grief! How anyone, let alone the main character, could have survived that is anyone’s guess – it was that far-fetched. Understandable how his mind wasn’t intact after that – but for his wife and kid to walk into the room and suddenly remember who he is…  honestly, Mr. Bonansinga, did you really think we’d be able to swallow it?

If his characters had been more believable, if there’s been more mystery to the plot, and if he’d left out the spiritual/paranormal mumbo jumbo (didn’t believe any of it for a second, not even a nano-second,) maybe, just maybe, I’d be more inclined to read some of his other work. As it stand: No.

Rating:

Rules of Prey by John Sandford (‘Lucas Davenport’ series Book #1)

Format: Mass Market Paperbound - Published: August 2005 - 368 Pages - ISBN: 0425205819 - Published By: Berkley Mass Market

 

Rules of Prey

by John Sandford

‘Lucas Davenport’ series Book #1

The murderer was intelligent. He was a member of the bar. He derived ruled based on professional examination of actual cases: Never kill anyone you know. Never have a motive. Never follow a discernible pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been used. Beware of leaving physical evidence. There were more. He built them into a challenge. He was mad, of course…

The killer’s name is Louis Vullion, a low-key young attorney who, under the camouflage of normalcy, researches his next female victim until the pressure within him forces him to reach out and “collect” her. Plying his secret craft with the tactics of a games master, he has gripped the Twin Cities in a storm of terror more fierce than any Minnesota winter.

It is after the third murder that Lucas Davenport is called in. It is the opinion of his colleagues that everything about the lieutenant is a little different, and they are right – in the computer games he invents and sells, in the Porsche he drives to work, in the quality of the women he attracts, in his single-minded pursuit of justice. The only memeber of the department’s Office of Special Intelligence, Davenport prefers to work alone, parallel with Homicide, and there is something about this serial killer that he quickly understands. The man who signs himself “maddog” in taunting notes to the police is no textbook sociopath; he has a perverse playfulness that makes him kill for the sheer contest of it. He is a player.

Which means that Davenport will have to put all his mental strength – and physical courage – on the line to learn to think like the killer. For the only way to beat the maddoge is at his own hellish game…

Review: Finished August 21st, 2006. Wow! Okay, I can say that Davenport is not like any other cop characters I’ve ever read before. He’s definitely an original, and I don’t know how much I should say for fear of blowing it for those who haven’t read it and wish to. Lucas is intelligent and handsome in his own way, has a lot going on, but I found him to be … well, the only word I can think of is insecure when it comes to his personal life (women.) He has the ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ attitude when it comes to his informants, and although some wouls say not entirely legal, it gets the job done. And the book has a really good pace, catches you from the start right to the finish. I mentioned, email me if you want to discuss the book cause there’s something that happens in the book that I wasn’t happy with (but it in no way changes my view or rating) but I don’t want to blow it for those who are going to read it. I found a few of the female characters a little on the ditzy side, but overall, I liked it.

Rating:

The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner (‘Quincy/Rainie’ series Book #4)

Format: Mass Market Paperbound - Published: September 28, 2004 - 464 Pages - ISBN: 0553584529 - Published By: Bantam

 

The Killing Hour

by Lisa Gardner

‘Quincy / Rainie’ series Book #4

Each time he struck, he took two victims. Day after day, he waiting for the first body to be discovered – a body containing all the clues the investigators needed to find the second victim, who waited … prey to a slow but certain death. The clock ticked – salvation was possible.

The police were never in time.

Years have passed; but for this killer, time has stood still. As a heat wave of epic proportions descends, the game begins again. Two girls have disappeared … and the clock is ticking.

Rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy knows the killer’s deadline can be met. But she’ll have to break some rules to beat an exactingly vicious criminal at a game he’s had time to perfect.

For the Killing Hour has arrived…

Review: I finished this book on Friday night, June 8th, 2007. This is the first ‘Quincy/Rainie’ book I’ve read. It was among the books I bought at a flea market last September (2006). Figured it was about time I read it. And I liked it!

I loved Kimberly as a character. Though young, and everything she went through in the past, she overcomes many obstacles; a young brave woman. The way she stands up to the killer – superb. I couldn’t have read better. 

I believe she and McCormack were perfect for each other. Their personalities, although different, seemed to blend well together; as well as their instincts.

I really liked the plot and how it played out. I never even came close to who the killer was, and I felt like I was there in the thick of it. The way Gardner worded her descriptions of the surroundings, you have a clear picture of what you’re supposed to see – and what the characters are up against.

This was my first ‘Quincy/Rainie’ book. Rest assured it won’t be my last.

Rating: .5

No Escape by Shannon K. Butcher (‘Delta Force’ trilogy, Book #3)

Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages - Publisher: Forever (October 1, 2008) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0446510289 - ISBN-13: 978-0446510288

 

No Escape

by Shannon K. Butcher

‘Delta Force’ trilogy, Book #3

SOME DIE FOR LOVE. OTHERS KILL FOR IT.

NOWHERE TO RUN

Teacher Isabelle Carson is grief-stricken, angry, and scared. Three of her childhood friends have died. The police say they’re suicides, but Isabelle knows they would never, ever take their own lives. Her past binds her to every victim, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before the killer comes after her. Only one man can help her now, the only man she’s ever trusted, the man who saved her so long ago…

NO PLACE TO HIDE

For Grant Kent, Delta Force vet, just being near Isabelle brings back old memories and desires, and stirs longings he’d rather deny. Yet he can’t ignore the real terror in her eyes, or resist the thought of holding her again. But even as their friendship begins to blossom into a passionate affair, a killer coninutes his deadly rampage and plots his next move: the “suicide” of Isabelle Carson.

Review: “I’m not killing them, I’m helping them…”

Isabelle Carson knows these people, and she knows they’d never commit suicide, especially her friend Beverly. They all shared a past; all were foster kids in the home of the molesting, pedofile Lavine. Fourteen years earlier, Grant had been moved to Lavine’s care. One night, while sneaking out, he came upon Lavine trying to rape Isabelle, his rage snapped his control and he put a permanent halt to Lavine’s molestations.

Fourteen years later, now a Delta Force vet, he’s been receiving birthday cards and Christmas cards from Isabelle all these years. But her phone call left him worried, for it wasn’t just her words, but her tone of voice that was off. Something was going on, and Grant is determined to find out.

Now a foster mom to seventeen-year-old Dale Townsend, Isabelle is frightened; Wyatt, Dale’s father, is now out of jail, and he wants his son, even if Dale doesn’t want him. And people that she cares about are dying, and she’s sure they’re not suicides. She’s been to the police, but they don’t believe her. But Grant does, for he’s found something in her research that the police never saw… the ‘suicides’ are happening in the order that they had gone to live with Lavine.

Now the police are taking it seriously. However, will they find the killer in time before Isabelle becomes his next ‘suicide’?

Totally awesome and I can’t wait for more from Shannon K. Butcher!

Isabelle is a strong woman who’s determined to become a great foster mom to children who need her, some with pasts very similar to her own. She’s gotten over that past, and her determination really speaks through to the author. When her cards and letter start coming back from some of her friends and fellow foster brothers and sisters, Isabelle places phone calls and doesn’t like what she hears. She knows they wouldn’t commit suicide, especially her friend and foster-sister Beverly, who had recently married and was the proud mother of a three-week-old baby boy. Isabelle was the one that found her, her body still warm, in the tub, her wrists slit. This was the last straw. Determined to get to the bottom of it and warn everyone else, Isabelle calls the man who’d saved her from Lavine years ago and left a message Grant didn’t like.

Grant, Delta Force vet, decides on his way through to go work for David, to stop at Isabelle’s and find out what’s going on. At first, he believes that she believes the suicides weren’t suicides, but Grant waited until he had more proof. And when that proof is found, the suicides are happening in the same order as they’d been placed in Lavine’s care, Grant really believes something’s going on, and it sure isn’t suicide. He’s determined to help, but knows he can’t stay when all is solved, for the lonely and scared little boy still buried deep believes that he can’t be the man that Isabelle wants, that he doesn’t have it in him to be a good husband and a good father, because of his own past.

Suspenseful, fast-paced and tense, you feel what the characters are feeling. The mind of the psychotic ‘suicide’ killer sends chills up and down your spine. All the steamy love scenes and the climax to the story jumps your pulse into overtime until you’re panting right along with the characters. And the more you yell at the characters that they have the wrong killer, the faster you read to get to the end. Unputdownable, Shannon K. Butcher at her finest. I can’t wait for her next book!

Rating:

Conduct in Question by Mary E. Martin (‘Osgoode’ trilogy Book #1)

Trade Paperback: 282 pages - Publisher: iUniverse (September 2005) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0595358209 - ISBN-13: 978-0595358205

Conduct in Question

by Mary E. Martin

‘Osgoode’ trilogy Book #1

Lawyer Harry Jenkins longs for freedom and love. Trapped under his senior partner’s thumb for years and in a dead marriage, he has nearly reached his breaking point. The city is haunted by the spectre of the Florist, a sadistic murderer with an artistic flair, who believes he is called to judge the worthiness of his victims. When his partner drops dead in his office, Harry is free to make his own mistakes. Almost immediately, he is swepts into a massive money-laundering scheme by the enigmatic Mr. Chin and into a conflict with is wealthy client Marjorie Deighton. When he finds Marjorie dead, he senses foul play. Are the Florist’s murders and Mr. Chin’s shady dealings connected? Can Harry find the answers before the Florist strikes again? Fortunately, the beautiful Natasha is there to guide him to the answers.

Conduct in Question on Amazon.com

Conduct in Question on Chapters.ca

Conduct in Question on Amazon.ca

1-Dec-08 to 3-Dec-08

Review: A fascinating legal thriller…

Harry Jenkins is an estate lawyer and partner of Crane, Crawford and Jenkins law firm. First, his partner, Crawford, dies on the floor in his office while remember the love he once had with one of their clients, Marjorie Deighton. For Harry, things go from bad to worse and rather quickly.

Harry is asked to meet at Marjorie’s home; her intent is to review her will and consult with him about a meeting she is supposed to have earlier in the day. Along with his secretary, Harry visits the home of Ms. Deighton in late afternoon, only to find Ms. Deighton dead, lying on her bed. Harry believes that she must have died peacefully, but he is suspicious; there are just too many things going on that could make her passing a coincidence.

A mysterious man, Albert Chin, is referred to Harry for property acquisitions. Only, the properties are those surrounding the Marjorie’s estate. Plus, the names of the parties acquiring the properties seems fishy to him, as they are all numbered accounts. Money laundering? Harry allows himself to be blinded by the money, believing he may just live up to his wife’s expectations. But he knows the marriage is dead. Both have changed during their 20-year marriage; they no longer talk, nor are they in love. He also believes that his wife, Laura, is having an affair, mostly likely with her boss. Meanwhile, he fantasizes about the beautiful Natasha. And when he tries to deposit the checks from Chin into the trust, Mr. Mudhali, the manager of the bank, brings him to the office. It seems that Crawford had taken out a loan against the firm’s account. However, Harry believes that this is just as fishy as Mr. Chin’s acquisitions; it takes all the partners signatures for that loan, and Harry knows he’s never signed it.

And all the while, the serial killer, The Florist, is going around Toronto, judging and murdering women, using a knife to cut floral designs in their skin.

Harry believes that, somehow, they are all connected, even when he hopes they are not. But are they?

An incredible first novel by Canadian author, Mary E. Martin. Using her knowledge of the field, she writes an incredible novel filled with twists and coincidences. While the main character, Harry, goes through the motions of day-to-day life, he wishes his life were more exciting, more freedom, more love.  And while I’m used to reading murder mysteries through the eyes of the detective, a criminal lawyer, this time, it’s through the eyes of an estate lawyer, one who usually deals with the passing of his clients, the grieving family and friends, wills, and estates. Not criminal. I liked the difference, and can’t wait to see what else Harry gets into. Also, I like how the author touched base on more than murder, money laundering, estates and wills. She adds abusive bullies, abused women, and very manipulative people. A fascinating combination. On to Book #2, Final Paradox.

Rating:

HeartSick by Chelsea Cain (‘Archie and Gretchen’ series Book #1)

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages - Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur; Reprint edition (July 29, 2008) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0312947151 - ISBN-13: 978-0312947156

HeartSick

by Chelsea Cain

‘Archie and Gretchen’ series Book #1

Love hurts. Sometimes it’s torture.

A Living Nightmare.

Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful and brutal serial killer. In the end, she was the one who caught him … and tortured him … and then let him go. Why did Gretchen spare Archie’s life and then turn herself in? This is the question that keeps him up all night – and the reason why he has visited Gretchen in prison every week since.

A Deadly Obsession…

Meanwhile, another series of Portland murders has Archie working on a brand-new task force … and heading straight into the line of fire. The local news is covering the case 24/7, and it’s not long before Archie enters a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the killer – and his former captor. But this time, it’s up to Archie to save himself…

HeatSick at Amazon.com

HeartSick at Chapters.ca

HeartSick at Amazon.ca

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Review: A deadly nightmare you can only pray to wake up from…

Archie Sheridan is a detective with the Portland PD. During his rookie year as a detective, eleven years ago, he’d joined the task force that had been set up to capture the serial killer known as The Beauty Killer. For years, they tried to capture the killer, who evaded them, until a beautiful woman came into the picture. She approached the task force, introduced herself as a psychologist, and baited Archie until she kidnapped him, and tortured him. She kills Archie, but, unlike her previous victims, she brought him back, dialed 9-1-1 and turned herself in. And yet, she’s not done torturing Archie, and he knows it.

Two years later, divorced from his wife, refusing to see his kids and addicted to prescription drugs, Archie is asked to head a new task force for a new serial killer, one who kidnaps teenage girls, strangles them, rapes them, douses them with bleach and dumps them in the river. With barely any clues or leads, they are on the hunt for the After School Strangler.

Meanwhile, Susan Ward, feature writer for the Herald, is assigned to follow Archie and write a feature about him. Dogging his heels, Susan sees things most reporters wouldn’t unless they were to stumble upon a body themselves. For Susan, the After School Strangler hits close to home, for, years before, she’d actually gone to one of the murdered teenagers.

And all the while, hunting for a new serial killer, Archie continues his visits with Gretchen in prison every Sunday. The reason? Supposedly because she will give up a body of one of her victims; name and location of burial, but it has to be Archie. Does he go simply for closer to her victims families, or is there something more? Will they catch the After School Strangler before the fourth victim is found dead?

Incredible novel! Throughout the book, we visit Archie’s past, during the time when Gretchen tortures him. The torture is described as such that the reader feels it, and it’s gut-wrenching! She not only does a number on his body, but fractures his mind as well. Gretchen is such the narcissistic psychopath that just listening to the way she talks gives you the shivers while your stomach jumps in revulsion. Archie is very much now a broken person in mind as well as body, for her marks may heal, but they scar, both ways.

Susan, the reporter, is as screwed up as Archie, in a totally different manner. Having lost her father at 15, she rebelled, and hasn’t been the same since.

And while this new serial killer is nowhere as bad as Gretchen, the killer is just as screwed up in the head as she is.

There may not be much action in this novel except at the end, it’s the mind games and past torture that really grip you. You continue reading, as fascinated as you are repulsed, and even though you close the book, thinking there’s no way you can continue reading it, you’ll pick it right back up, wondering what else Gretchen does to Archie, wondering who the new serial killer is. I sooooo can’t wait to get my hands on Sweetheart, book #2 in the series.

Rating:

Forgotten by Mariah Stewart

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages – Publisher: Ballantine Books; Ballantine Books Mass Market Ed edition (August 26, 2008 ) – Language: English – ISBN-10: 0345506111 – ISBN-13: 978-0345506115

Back of the Book reads:

Who speaks for the dead when they scream bloody murder?

Sheldon Woods kidnapped and killed an untold number of boys, then escaped the death penalty by making a plea bargain for multiple life sentences in exchange for revealing the whereabouts of some of his victims’ bodies. More than a decade later, the full extent of his crimes is still unknown, and many of the dead have never been accounted for. But Lisa Walsh is certain her brother Christopher was one of them, and to honor her mother’s dying wish, she’s on a mission to learn the truth and recover the little boy’s remains. FBI agent Portia Cahill, tasked with confronting the caged killer, is obliged to play his mind games to get what she’s after, but she ends up with more than she bargained for when the remains of another boy’s body are discovered.

Determined to ID the mystery child, Portia reluctantly teams with James Cannon, the attorney who once defended Woods. But chasing a killer’s grisly legacy, and the bones of the forgotten dead, will lead them into the lethal orbit of a monster who’s seeding the graves of the past with a fresh wave of innocent victims.

Forgotten at Amazon.com

Forgotten at Chapters.ca

Forgotten at Amazon.ca

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2-Oct-08 to 3-Oct-08

Review: FBI agent Portia Cahill returns stateside after her undercover anonymity is blown. She doesn’t want to be there, she wants to be back doing the adrenaline rush of a job overseas, but that’s no possible. Her first assignment is to talk to inmate Sheldon Woods and find out where the body of Christopher Walsh is buried. It’s believe that Walsh had been one of his victims, but he never confessed. Now, Madeline, Christopher’s mother, is dying, and her last wish is to see her son’s remains be laid to rest before she’s gone.

Portia makes a deal with Woods and finds remains believed to be Christopher’s. However, there’s a new development: another set of remains, smaller, is under Christopher’s. Try as she might, Woods won’t give up the identity to the second set of remains; ‘He’s mine’. But Portia doesn’t care. While the comment is disturbing to say the least, she’s determined to bring the boy back to his family.

But there are twists, and a new development. Seems Woods has been talking to someone else, for a ‘fresh’ body of a young boy is found in another one of Woods’ victims’ graves. Obviously it wasn’t Woods; he’s behind bars. But who’s copycatting Woods’s MO? Another discovery: Woods sexually assaulted his victims before killing them. The new bodies turning up were simply strangled and nothing more.

James Cannon, Woods’s ex-lawyer, is determined to help Portia find the bodies and the new killer. Both are determined to keep each other at arm’s length, yet they both lose that fight. And while they’re close, a young friend of the family becomes a victim and Portia is determined to keep Cannon away from her until this is solved. Even consummed with guilt, she’s determined to stop the lastest murderer, no matter what. But who is he?

Stewart sure knows how to write a story with believable characters and twists that seem to freeze and puzzle you as much as the characters. With words, the characters come to life and you can’t help but follow the path laid out for them. Woods seems just as creepy as if he’d been real, and the sparks between Portia and Jim are terrific. The plot is excellent, and the twist Stewart throws in throws off the unsuspecting reader, who then yells “What the h…?” and flips the page desperately needing to know what and why. Excellent read!

Rating:

Left to Die by Lisa Jackson

Paperback: 484 pages – Publisher: Zebra (August 1, 2008 ) – Language: English – ISBN-10: 1420102761 – ISBN-13: 978-1420102765

Back of the Book reads:

NOTHING’S MORE TERRIFYING…

One by one, the victims are carefully captured, toyed with, then subjected to a slow and agonizing death. Piece by piece, his exquisite plan takes shape. The police can’t yet see the beauty in his work – but soon, very soon, they will…

THAN BEING LEFT ALONE…

In the lonely woods around Grizzly Falls, Montana, four bodies have been discovered. Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli have been hoping for a career-making case, but this is a nightmare. Even with the FBI involved, Selena and Regan have nothing to go on but a killer’s criptic notes, and the unsettling knowledge that there is much worse to come…

TO DIE…

When Jillian Rivers opens her eyes, she’s trapped in a mangled car. Then a stranger, claiming to be a trail guide named Zane MacGregor, pries her free. Though she’s grateful, something about him sets Jillian on edge. And if she knew what lay out there in the woods of Montana, she’s truly be terrified. Because someone is waiting … watching … poised to strike and make Jillian the next victim…

Left to Die at Amazon.com

Left to Die at Chapters.ca

Left to Die at Amazon.ca

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22-Aug-08 to 26-Aug-08

Review: Chilling and Terrifiying!

A serial killer is in Grizzly Falls, Montana, shooting the tires of vehicles containing one lone occupant, a woman, his latest victim. He brings them to his ‘hide-out’, lets them recuperate somewhat, makes them dependant on him to the point of ‘wanting’ him. He takes them out, completely naked in the middle of winter, ties them to trees and leaves them there to die of exposure, leaving behind a star carved into the trees above their heads and a cryptic note using the initials of the women he’s left to die. He eludes the police easily, never leaving a trace on either victim, never leaving one alive.

Jillian Rivers is believed to be the next victim. After receiving calls and pictures, she believes that the person on the other end of the line is giving her clues to her first husband, thought to be dead; the husband who was presumed dead after stealing have a million from investors. She’d been remarried and divorced and now lives alone, running a one-woman business, creator of booklets, leaflets, brochures, etc… The disturbing phone calls and the pictures put her on edge and decides to investigate on her own. She leaves her home in Seattle and takes off for Montana, in search of answers.

She’s read the gruesome news announcements of what’s going on in Montana, but that doesn’t faze her… until it happens to her. Her tire is blown on, her car ends up over a cliff and down and embankment. Her rescuer, Zane MacGregor. He brings her to her cabin, keeps her warm, fed, comfortable as much as possible, all while trying to figure out a way to get her to a hospital between breaks in the snow storms. But Zane is a quiet man, one who doesn’t like to relive or talk about his past. He doesn’t like company overmuch, and it shows. Should Jillian trust him?

I thought this book was incredible! A serious mystery leaves you completely clueless as who it could be. You get glimpses into the killer’s mind, and he’s downright scary. What he’s doing he believes it’s art, and it’s enough to freak out a reader.

Jillian is a woman who’s had to rebuild herself and tried to start anew. After a second marriage that failed inside of two years, she’s on her own – and prefers it that way. A determined woman, she’s absolutely p.o.ed when pictures and disturbing phone calls have her wondering if her first husband, the man she loved totally and completely, is still alive. Had he faked his own death? Only one way to find out, and off she goes.

True to form, her tire is blown out by one riffle shot, and her car crashes. Here comes Zane MacGregor to the rescue. He’s not very keen on having a ‘damsel in distress’ in his home, and it shows. But is he the killer?

The book leaves you wondering and guessing until you don’t have to guess anymore. At first, with all the characters, it’s a little confusing until you get everyone in the right place and it goes along smoothly from there. The cops are smart, but so far the killer is eluding them very well. All they need is one break.

However, Jillian’s would-be killer isn’t the serial killer of the book, and I sooo loved that twist! However, I was upset at the end of the novel. Um, maybe frustrated would be a better word. Maybe even pissed. I mean, 484 pages in a book, and the story doesn’t end there. In fact, you still don’t know who the killer is, not even an inkling. To get the rest, the sequel, Chosen to Die, comes out a year from now. That’s a pisser for sure. To have to wait a year to get the second half of the story is going to piss off a lot of readers. And that’s why I’m telling you about that – in case you want to wait. Had I known about this, I’d have waited to put this in the pot for a book of the month. Even then, had I known, I’d have waited, period. And if I have to read another ‘department-issued’ something or other (coats, ski-pants, gloves, hats, jeeps, etc…), I’m going to tear my hair out!

And while the ending of the book is completely frustrating, it has lots of good points: a killer with a sick, twisted mind, a love story, a mystery, action, tenseful suspense. The only thing stopping me from giving this the highest marks is the ending. Sorry, Ms. Jackson! That was not appreciated at all.

Rating: