Category: Books-Fiction

From the Archives: Book 33 of 2011 Lassiter by Paul Levine ….

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By Paul Levine

Through the years two of my favorite mystery series are the Jake Lassiter and the Solomon and Lord series both from Paul Levine. I haven’t read a book of his since 2011, when I read Lassiter. Here’s the review I wrote about it back when I finished the book

Tonight as I was re-posting this review I went to Levine’s page at Amazon and I see that books 9 and 10 in the Jake Lassiter series are both available at Amazon for only $3.99 each!! What a steal! Now I only have to find time to read them!!!! Anyway here is the review for Lassiter!

So a couple of years ago after reading Paul Levine‘s book Illegal I sent him a message on Facebook and told him that I liked the book but sill missed Jake Lassiter! He emailed me back and told me that his next book was going to be a Lassiter novel.

Well, that book, appropriately named Lassiter is Book 33 for 2011.Jake Lassiter is a “low-rent”  Miami attorney, whose clients are usually not from the upper echelon of the Miami social scene.

Lassiter also previously played for the Miami Dolphins and was featured in a series of seven books that started with To Speak for the Dead in 1990 and ended with Flesh & Bones in 1997. I’ve read six out of the seven – Number 1 is the only one I haven’t read. And now thanks to reissuing of the books as e-books  for the Kindle, that can be read for only $2.99!

But now back to the current book Lassiter. For his return Levine has crafted a story that starts in Lassiter’s past, from his website:

Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida’s sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami’s rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. It’s a tale of redemption and revenge for the troubled Jake.

After a fourteen year lay-off Lassiter has lost none of his snap. Booklist one described him this way

 “Lassiter is smart, tough, funny, and very human. He’s coming on fast as one of the most entertaining series characters in contemporary crime fiction.”

I have enjoyed all the Lassiter books that I’ve read. The characters are always well drawn and the stories always entertaining. In between the Lassiter books Levine has written several standalone books along with another series (almost as good and in some ways better than Lassiter) featuring two other attorneys Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. There are four  books in that series and like I said they’re all highly entertaining! So check out any of Levine’s books sit back and enjoy the ride!

Now I was all set with my next book. I went to the library the other night to pick up a book for my wife and came back with two books. The new John Hart book Iron House and  Collusion the follow-up book to Stuart Neville‘s fine début novel The Ghosts of Belfast. I figured I’d start with the Hart book and then the Neville novel.

So what happens tonight, I get an email that the new Alex Kava Maggie O’Dell novel Hotwire is now available for digital download to my Kindle!! So I guess I’ll check that one out too, start both books and see which one I like the most and finish that one first! Hum, too many books, too little time!!

P.S. I read both Iron House and Hotwire, but not the Stuart Neville book……

Amanda Kyle Williams’ The Stranger You Seek’s strong ending leads to Book 2 of the series!

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The Stranger You SeekSo last week I wrote that I was struggling through The Stranger You Seek the first of the Keye Street novels from Amanda Kyle Williams. Tonight I went to the library to get book 2 in the series Stranger in the Room! It’s easy to explain the reason , stealing and editing a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail “It Got Better!!

I guess that it took a while for the story to grab me, but once it did it didn’t let go until the last twist and turn in the plot! The protagonist of the book is Keye Street, an ex-FBI profiler who was a rising star in the agency, until her alcohol addiction brought her career crashing down. Now Keye is a working PI in Atlanta chasing down bail jumpers, catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, that is until her best friend Atlanta Police Detective Aaron Rauser calls her to help him out on a grisly murder case. The case’s profile quickly  rises soon turning into a hunt, for the “Wishbone” killer. As the killer taunts Rauser and Street, the hunt turns personal, with Keye and Rauser in the killer’s crosshairs.

Now, back to the problems that I see as minor and were overcome  by the storyline.  Elizabeth B. in her review at Goodreads didn’t see it that way though… she wrote……

… The main character was just the most annoying narrator ever. It was as if every problem a person could have was built in by the author. Flawed is one thing but you pretty easily degenerate into Mary Sue-ish and that’s exactly what happened here. Freakish name? Check. Bad family history? Check. Discrimination from childhood? Check. Drugs and/or alcohol abuse? Check. But I’m a survivor and will overcome everything all by my lonesome? Check.  Read More At…Goodreads

I really didn’t think it was that bad and by the end of the book, I liked Keye and Rauser, and saw them as a team that I could root for!

Bottom line: A strong twisting ending made the book a good read and a series that I will follow at least into the next book Stranger in the Room. so Check it Out!

Grade: B – over the first half of the book, A for the last so I guess that’s a B+!!

Book No 28 for 2014….

Here’s the trailer for the book!

After a Great Read – Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan – I can’t wait to begin Very Bad Man!

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bad things happenA couple of Saturday’s ago, I was browsing through the books at Barnes & Noble and I came across The Last Dead Girl, Book # 3 in the David Loogan series written by Harry Dolan.

On the dust jacket of the book I read that Stephen King called Dolan’s book Bad Things Happen   “a “great f***ing book“! When I came home, I went to my local libraries website and requested the book. I was captivated by the book from the opening sentence, the pages flew by and it quickly became Book 29 of 2014, and I agree with Mr King in is  a great f***king book!

The reader first meets the protagonist of the book, the mysterious David Loogan, while he is purchasing a shovel and some assorted gardening supplies, only David is not going to be doing any gardening,, no he is going to be digging a grave! A grave in which he and  his new employer Tom Kristoll, owner and editor of the mystery magazine Gray Streets, will bury a body. Days later, Tom Kristoll plummets from his sixth floor office window the victim of an apparent suicide. Was it really suicide or was it murder? David thinks it’s murder, as does Elizabeth Waishkey a top detective in the Ann Arbor Police Department, Soon the action in the book begins to follow the typical formula of a Gray Streets mystery “Plans go wrong, Bad Things Happen, People Die”  As more bodies pile up, David is determined to discover who killed his friend, and while Elizabeth wants to believe David is an innocent player in the mystery, ,after a detective from New York shows up and reveals that Loogan was once indicted for MURDER, that becomes a little harder!

This book was a real page turner for me I agree wholeheartedly with what Publishers Weekly says about the book in their starred review of the book

“Dolan gets everything  right in his debut….Pitch-perfect prose and sophisticated characterizations driven by the noirish plot, which offers plenty of unexpected twists. Fans of Peter Abraham and Scott Turow will find a lot to like…. The talent Dolan displays suggests he has a bright future.”

I couldn’t have said it better himself!

Bottomline: A great page-turner, written by an expert at simple prose that conveys way more, in way less! A book that sends you looking for the next book in the series, which I have already requested from my library!!

Grade A – Check It Out!!

Treasures From a Library Used Book Sale! Does It Get Much Better?

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The other day I got to do one of my favorite things, go to a used book sale at the library. The visit was made even better because I The Things They Carriedgot to do it on the first day of the sale, when there were still a lot of books there! Typically, I’m there on the last day and sometimes during the last hour or so of the sale. When I went into the sale I decided that I was going to look, not for the typical mysteries that I usually go for, but for a few books that may be a more on the literature side.

Actually, the first books that I found were more on the mystery side, from the pen of Ken Follett I found some pretty nice copies of The Man from St Petersburg, The Key to Rebecca, and The Eye of the Needle. The only one of the three that I have read is the last which of course is great!!  So my first $1.50 was spent!

The next couple of books were of the literature mold. First Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried  I’ve seen this book on many list of the top 100 books or books that you should read. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award. Next came The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. L A Times writes.. “A mystery, a thriller, a ghost story, and a literary tour de force“. Edward says and why haven’t I read this book!!

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney followed. I’ve looked at this book many times, but have never picked it up.  Once again the blurb on the back of the book leaves me scratching my head…..”An original and readable MIXTURE IF MYSTERY AND HiSTORY, with a  goo dollop of old-fashioned adventure” – The Times (London)

Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories was the next purchase. I have always heard read how great Atkinson is and yet I still have not read one of her books!  The blurbs are to many and make me feel pretty bad for never reading this book!!

Finally, the last book is truly great literature… the best of the bunch  Island of the Sequined Love Nun from Christopher Moore. I’ve had trouble getting into Moore’s last few books, not so, with his early works like Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. These books along with Lamb are just some of my favorite all time reads. Yeah, I know they’re not great literature but who cares!!

So there’s the next $5.00 that I spent for a grand total of  $6.50 for 8 books not bad, eh?? Now the hard par, finding time to read them all!

 

 

Those Who Wish Me Dead – Michael Koryta – A Grade A Thriller!

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Those Who Wish Me Dead - Michael Koryta

Those Who Wish Me Dead are the sadistic and evil Blackwell brothers, who Jace Wilson saw murder a man in a quarry in Indiana.

Their quest to hunt down and kill Jace leads the Blackwell brothers to the mountains of  Montana , where Ethan and Allison Serbin run a summer survival training program for troubled youths.

Jace was placed in the program by Jamie Bennett ,who was a former student of Serbin’s, Arriving in a snowstorm, Bennett asks Ethan’s help in getting Jace “off the grid” to protect him, something Bennett does not think she can do by herself.

Although both Allison and Ethan have doubts about Bennett, they agree to help for the sake of the boy.  Soon the Blackwell brothers arrive, bringing their evil to the mountains.

Can Ethan and Allison keep their promise to keep Connor safe?  The task becomes more difficult when Jace, sets out to escape from the brothers, alone!

 While the brother’s bring evil and a devastating fire to the mountains, Jace encounters an ex-elite firefighter Hannah Faber, who joins the fight to keep Jace safe.

 So begins Michael Kortya’s latest book Those Who Wish Me Dead about which Harlan Coben says…..

“Warnng: Michael Koryta‘s wonderful, riveting, and harrowing Those Who Wish Me Dead may just move you to tears. Enjoy at Your Own Risk” 

My Thoughts

I have been a reader of Michael Koryta’s work since I read several of the books in his Lincoln Perry series. (Note to self find The Silent Hour Lincoln Perry #4) I have enjoyed all of his books that I have read, they are typically filled with lots of action and a good story line and this one  joins the group!!

I don’t think that Koryta is as descriptive of either his characters or the setting of the story as other authors that  read but he does a great job holding your interest until the end.

At first, I wasn’t sure about the book, a survivalist teacher and a group of boys with two evil men on their trail, ho hum! But that’s not the way that the story develops at all!!

Actually, it seemed to me it became a quest for Jace to overcome his fears, for Hannah to  make amends for decisions that she made as a firefighter and Ethan to prove to a military father that he was capable of killing when necessary!

Bottom Line

Bottom line: a very good adventure that should make a terrific movie, so read it now so you’ll be ready to compare the two!!

Grade: A-     I figured out certain aspects of the story too early, but the action, twists,  and the details about forest fires and tracking overcame that!!

Author’s Website
Goodreads
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Amazon

 

Michael Koryta

About Michael Koryta

Michael Koryta is a New York Times-bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages and has won or been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar® Award, Shamus Award, Barry Award, Quill Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Golden Dagger. They’ve been selected as “best books of the year” by numerous publications.

 

Visit the Michael Koryta Page

Kathleen Mallory #11- It Happens in the Dark – Carol O’Connell

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It Happens in the Dark

In Kathleen Mallory, Carol O’Connell created one of the most distinctive characters in the mystery–thriller world. Mallory is brilliant, relentless, and shaped by a brutal childhood—raised on New York streets until Officer Louis Markowitz took her in. She grows into an NYPD detective with a ferocious intelligence, an icy focus, and a small orbit of people who care about her: Riker, Charles Butler, Jack Coffey, and Markowitz’s old poker pals.

The Story

It Happens in the Dark (#11) drops Mallory and Riker into a Broadway theater where “a play to die for” keeps stopping for all the wrong reasons. Night one: an audience member dies during Act I. Night two: the playwright’s throat is slashed—suicide or murder? The production is somehow a hit and no one has even seen Act II. As Mallory digs, it turns out the script isn’t the playwright’s anymore—a ghostwriter has been rewriting it piece by piece. Now every cast and crew member is a suspect: a once-famous movie star, a troubled leading lady, a wardrobe mistress who isn’t what she seems, a gofer with secrets, and a pair of brothers as unhinged as the roles they play.

Final Thoughts

When I first discovered Mallory, I tore through the first six books. Then came a lull—#7–#9 still sit on my TBR stack. I picked the series back up with The Chalk Girl (#10) and then this one. I loved being back with Mallory, Riker, Charles, and the gang, but this entry didn’t land quite as hard for me. The plot threads were occasionally hard to track (I mixed up the two crew members and the two psychos at one point), the pacing sagged, and the culprit felt a bit easy to spot—the real question became “why?” more than “who?”

That said, the series remains terrific because the characters remain terrific. Some readers complain Mallory hasn’t changed much over time; my take is: why mess with a good thing? (Has Stephanie Plum changed that much?) When O’Connell’s machinery hums, Mallory is a force of nature and impossible to look away from.

Grade: B+   •   Book #25 for 2014

The Lewis Man by Peter May – another winner!

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The Black House

The Lewis Man is the second book in Peter May’s wonderful Lewis Trilogy and in the words of The Guardian it is…..

“As good as its predecessor…not only a good mystery, but also a moving and evocative portrayal of a place where the weather is matched only by the church’s harsh patronage….”

The place is the Isles of Lewis, from the book’s  prologue….

On this storm lashed island three hours off the northwest coast of Scotland, what little soil exists gives the people their food and their heat. It also takes their dead. And very occasionally, as today, gives one up.

The body that it gave up is that of a nineteen year old male found in a peat bog during the annual peat harvest. The body is a typical bog body, Bodies found in peat bogs are sometimes perfectly preserved, retaining their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area.

These bodies sometimes are thousands of years old! In this case it is the body of a nineteen year old boy, who was brutally murdered. He stabbed several times and had hos throat slit! The Elvis tatoo on his forearm though squashed any theories that the body was centuries old. Since the bodies internal organs were intact DNA was used to help determine who the boy was. Matched against DNA of male islanders (samples had been collected and tested a year prior see The Blackhouse) a match was found – Tormod MacDonald. Tormod is the father of Marsaili, the childhood sweetheart of Fin MacLeod. MacLeod is a recently retired Edinburgh police detective who has returned to Lewis to restore his family croft and maybe some personal relationships.

Tormod suffers from dementia and lives in a hazy world of past and present. Soon Fin and Marsaili are on a quest to find out who the bog boy was and how and why he was murdered.

The story of the murdered boy is told through the haze of Tormod’s dementia, as Tormod tells a tale of two brothers, neither of whom  Marsaili or other Lewis residents have any knowledge of, and reveals long lost and buried secrets that change everything

Marsaili thought about her past and ancestry! Last week, my wife sent the Facebook challenge to me to list 10 books that have stayed with me, The Blackhouse should have been included on that list and now The Lewis Man should be among those books also!

As the quote at the beginning of this post says, the book is not only a good mystery that is not unraveled until the close of the book, but also a wonderful portrayal of the harsh lives of the MacDonalds, MacLeods, Murrays and other families who live in the harsh environment found on the Isle of Lewis.

Scotsman Peter May now lives and writes in France. I have read several of his China Thrillers that feature Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell and they are also great reads.

I have yet to read any of the books in his other series The Enzo Files which feature a Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, but I should!!

The Lewis Man has won…

  • the Prix des Lecteurs of Le Télégramme newspaper in France, a 10,000 Euro prize judged by readers of the newspaper
  • the Prix des Lecteurs 2012 at Les Ancres Noires Festival, Le Havre, France.
  • the 2012 Prix International at the Polar&Co Festival, Cognac, France.

and was shortlisted for…

  • the UK Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library Award for 2012
  • the Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2012
  • the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime novel of the Year 2013

So if you have never read a Peter May book grab a copy of  The Blackhouse, I do believe you will be moving quickly on to The Lewis Man!!  (Book 24 for 2014) (Grade 4.75 out of 5.0)

Book 2 in Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy – The Lewis Man – another winner!

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The Lewis Man is the second book in Peter May’s wonderful Lewis Trilogy and in the words of The Guardian it is…..The Black House

“As good as its predecessor…not only a good mystery, but also a moving and evocative portrayal of a place where the weather is matched only by the church’s harsh patronage….”

The place is the Isles of Lewis, from the book’s  prologue….

On this storm lashed island three hours off the northwest coast of Scotland, what little soil exists gives the people their food and their heat. It also takes their dead. And very occasionally, as today, gives one up.

 

The body that it gave up is that of a nineteen year old male found in a peat bog during the annual peat harvest. The body is a typical bog body, Bodies found in peat bogs are sometimes perfectly preserved, retaining their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area. These bodies sometimes are thousands of years old! In this case it is the body of a nineteen year old boy, who was brutally murdered. He stabbed several times and had hos throat slit! The Elvis tatoo on his forearm though squashed any theories that the body was centuries old. Since the bodies internal organs were intact DNA was used to help determine who the boy was. Matched against DNA of male islanders (samples had been collected and tested a year prior see The Blackhouse) a match was found – Tormod MacDonald. Tormod is the father of Marsaili, the childhood sweetheart of Fin MacLeod. MacLeod is a recently retired Edinburgh police detective who has returned to Lewis to restore his family croft and maybe some personal relationships. Tormod suffers from dementia and lives in a hazy world of past and present. Soon Fin and Marsaili are on a quest to find out who the bog boy was and how and why he was murdered. The story of the murdered boy is told through the haze of Tormod’s dementia, as Tormod tells a tale of two brothers, neither of whom  Marsaili or other Lewis residents have any knowledge of, and reveals long lost and buried secrets that change everything  Marsaili thought about her past and ancestry! Last week, my wife sent the Facebook challenge to me to list 10 books that have stayed with me, The Blackhouse should have been included on that list and now The Lewis Man should be among those books also! As the quote at the beginning of this post says, the book is not only a good mystery that is not unraveled until the close of the book, but also a wonderful portrayal of the harsh lives of the MacDonalds, MacLeods, Murrays and other families who live in the harsh environment found on the Isle of Lewis. Scotsman Peter May now lives and writes in France. I have read several of his China Thrillers that feature Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell and they are also great reads. I have yet to read any of the books in his other series The Enzo Files which feature a Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, but I should!! The Lewis Man has won…

  • the Prix des Lecteurs of Le Télégramme newspaper in France, a 10,000 Euro prize judged by readers of the newspaper
  • the Prix des Lecteurs 2012 at Les Ancres Noires Festival, Le Havre, France.
  • the 2012 Prix International at the Polar&Co Festival, Cognac, France.

and was shortlisted for…

  • the UK Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library Award for 2012
  • the Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2012
  • the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime novel of the Year 2013

So if you have never read a Peter May book grab a copy of  The Blackhouse, I do believe you will be moving quickly on to The Lewis Man!!  (Book 24 for 2014) (Grade 4.5 out of 5.0)

No Safe House – Linwood Barclay

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No Safe House - Linwood Barclay

 

The first Linwood Barclay books I read were his Zack Walker mystery books, and I loved them! After I fnished the third book and was ready to move on, I discovered that Mr. Barclay had left that series, and moved on to write stand alone thrillers.

The first one was No Time to Say Goodbye and it was great! Since then I have read and enjoyed all of his books.  The latest is No Safe House\. In No Safe House, Barclay treats his readers to further adventures of the Archer family,  the main characters in No Time to Say Goodbye!

No Safe House – The Story

In the prologue an elderly couple is brutally slain in the Archer’s hometown of Mitford, Connecticut by a sadistic duo, who are in search of something or someone…..

When we meet the Archer family, daughter Grace is now fourteen and as she moves into adolescence, she is rebelling, One night during an argument with her mother, Grace is seriously burned. Her mother, Cynthia decides that she needs time away from the family and moves out, leaving husband Terry and Grace on their own. Then disaster strikes, when Grace foolishly follows her date Stuart Koch, into a strange house. Grace ends up with a gun in her had, Stuart hears someone else in the house.  Shots are fired.  Were they from Grace’s gun?, Where’s Stuart? Did Grace shoot him?. Someone rushes past Grace! Stricken with panic Grace leaves the house, calls for help to a friend and her father.

Soon the Archers are thrown into the middle of a mess, because not only were shots fired, but valuables were stolen from the house, valuables that didn’t belong to the homeowner, but rather to a career criminal Vincent Fleming, who is also Stuart’s father’s boss!  This isn’t the Archer;s first encounter with Vince. Years ago,  Vincent helped the Archer’s with their problems.  His help saved the Archer’sbut left him needing a urine bag after being shot. Needless to say he is not a friend of the Archer’s. Through the rest of the book the Archer’s mainly Terry  try to unravel the mystery of what happened that night, to keep Grace safe and their family together!! What about those killers – what are they looking for? Their killing spree and search continues right up until the climax of the book.

My Thoughts

As in all of Barclay’s books the pace of the action is swift, and the pages keep flying by. This book lacked a little of the tension that I have encountered in other works by Barclay, but the whole story isn’t resolved until the closing pages of the book which makes for damn good reading!!

One of the complaints about the book was that other readers didn’t really like the characters. I don’t have a problem with the characters. For example Terry is resolute in finding the answers that will save his daughter and he goes well outside his comfort level to do such and while Vincent is a thug, he is also a father, all be it a stepfather, who will also do anything for his daughter!

Bottom Line

it was another great read from Barclay, a little less thrilling than past works, but the over all it was a good story. In the words of the New York Times Book Review…..

“Some days, all you really want is for someone to tell you a wicked-good story. Linwood Barclay answers the reader’s perpetual prayer.”

Amen to that!!

Linwood Barclay

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay continues to be a prolific author, releasing new, critically acclaimed thrillers annually. Known for his high-octane plots and relatable characters, his recent work has solidified his status as a master of contemporary suspense.

Visit Linwood Barclay Page

 

 

If You Like Standalone Mystery/Thrillers ……

You might also enjoy:

Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea
Michael Koryta
Michael Koryta
Riley Sager
Riley Sager
  • Charlie Donlea — tightly plotted thrillers often built around cold cases, missing persons, and strong female leads, with twists that keep coming
  • Michael Koryta / Scott Carson — blends crime, suspense, and sometimes the supernatural, with a darker tone and strong atmosphere
  • Riley Sager — modern psychological thrillers with big twists, often centered on isolated settings and unreliable pasts

Karin Slaughter – Cop Town – Atlanta – 1974 – A Wild Ride!

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Cop Town

Karin Slaughter – Cop Town Atlanta 1974

The first Karin Slaughter book that I read was Kisscut, book #2 in her Grant County series. After finishing it, I immediately went back and found book #1, Blindsighted, and read it even faster than Kisscut. Since then I have read every book she has written—including both the Grant County and the Will Trent series, which are now intertwined!

A Stand-Alone Set in 1974 Atlanta

Cop Town is Karin’s first stand-alone novel. For this book she went back 40 years and recreated the feel of a changing Atlanta in 1974. Having lived in Athens, Georgia from 1975 to 1979, I could really appreciate the atmosphere she brought to life—it took me back to that time and place, when names like Maynard Ferguson and Reginald Evans were part of the soundtrack of our lives.

Meet Kate Murphy

The novel introduces Kate Murphy, a strong female character much like Sara Linton or Faith Mitchell. Kate is a young widow trying to rebuild her life after her husband Patrick was killed in Vietnam. After a bad experience as a secretary, she decides this police job has to work—but the odds are stacked against her. She’s a young, attractive woman on a misogynistic police force that doesn’t believe women belong, and she doesn’t fit in with the women either, coming from well-to-do Buckhead.

The Atlanta Shooter

On Kate’s first day, the “Atlanta Shooter”—who has already killed four officers—claims another victim, Don Wesley. Don’s partner is rising star Jimmy Lawson, whose family connections run deep in the department. Soon Maggie Lawson (Jimmy’s sister) is paired with Kate, and together they investigate what really happened in that Five Points alley, while trying to stop the Shooter before he strikes again. They get some help from Gail Patterson, a plainclothes officer and Maggie’s former mentor, but it’s an uphill battle against both the system and their own personal demons.

Characters and Atmosphere

Karin Slaughter fills the novel with memorable characters—from the Lawson family to Kate’s Dutch-Jewish mother and grandmother, survivors of Nazi concentration camps. The action is fast, furious, and tension-filled, with just the right mix of grit and heart.

“Relentless pacing, complex characters, and gritty realism, all set against the backdrop of a city on the edge….Slaughter’s eye for detail and truth is unmatched. I’d follow her anywhere.” – Gillian Flynn

“Stunning… Karin Slaughter’s first stand-alone novel, she breaks new ground with this riveting story of two young police officers trying to stop a serial killer targeting cops. Her characters, plot, pacing are unrivaled among thriller writers and if you haven’t yet read her, this is the moment.” – Michael Connelly

Final Thoughts

Ok, I know this is a stand-alone novel—but come on, Karin! I just know you have more to write about Kate Murphy. We need to know what happens next. Maybe keep the Atlanta PD world going, NYPD Blue–style? Nah—I want more Kate, Maggie, and Gail! (Book 22 for 2014)

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