Die With Me

No, it's not an invitation, it's the name of the book I have just finished reading. "Die With Me" is a book by Karen Rose, detailing Det. Vito Ciccotelli's investigation into the discovery of multiple dead bodies. It appears a few of the victims were killed according to the old rules of medieval torture. Through a series of mostly-believable contrivances, he is paired with archaeologist Sophie Johansen, who can provide him with whatever history lesson he needs, handily speaks several different languages and is a tall blonde bombshell to boot. Of course, they are instantly attracted to one another but thankfully the narrative doesn't drag out the love/hate/love/hate aspect for too long. That's not to say it's light on the syrupy romance stuff. Vito and Sophie constantly marvel to themselves just how attractive one finds the other. But at least a considerable amount of time is spent on the crime angle, which kept me going despite the 695 page length.

What really irks me is the tendency of authors such as Rose to include mutliple other characters from previous novels. I guess some like to know how those other characters have fared since their (undoubtedly) traumatic experiences, but here Vito's whole family and the kitchen sink get thrown in and contribute little other than to up the word count. And in "Die For Me" it's highly evident that supporting character Special Agent Daniel Vartanian is going to get a story of his own in the future (and he does - I'm reading "Scream For Me" as I write this). If you're going to write a series - write a series. If you're going to write stand alone novels - write stand alone novels. But having nearly every single character have their own tortured past with their own scary experiences is a little unrealistic and convoluted.

But, all that whinging aside, I read a book that was 695 PAGES LONG!!! So it can't be that bad.

Oooh. Law & Order: SVU is on tonight.