Bennie Rosato heads up the law firm Rosato & Associates, overseeing three younger associates. It looks as if she is facing bankruptcy, as her latest client cannot afford to pay her. But salvation comes in the form of Robert St. Amiel, who wishes to start a class action suit against eye-lens manufacturers in America who are illegally trying to freeze out international competitors. If she can be lead counsel on the matter, the money would roll in.
However, strange things are happening, with Rosato being accused of getting drunk and kicked out of a restaurant, when she only had one drink and left on her own accord. Then she is arrested for stealing diamonds from a jewellery store. She realises this must be the work of her estranged twin sister, Alice Connelly, whom she defended on a murder charge two years earlier. Alice is back and seemingly wants to destroy Bennie's life one aspect at a time.
There's also a murder thrown into the storyline to tag this as a "crime" thriller, but it comes late in the proceedings (the book is more than half-way through), so to divulge any details would possibly be a spoiler.
Suffice to say, Dead Ringer is exceptionally dull. And for a lawyer who runs her own firm, Bennie often comes across as exceptionally dense. She's being questioned over a crime she didn't commit and doesn't seem to have the common-sense to stay quiet? Instead she keeps on digging a deeper hole for herself with her behaviour and answers. I mean - really? I certainly wouldn't want Bennie as my lawyer - I'd probably wind up in jail, guilty or innocent.
Characterisations are so cutesy it makes your teeth hurt, or else they're straight out of central casting. Bennie's best friend Sam is not just gay, he's flamboyantly gay. Her associates aren't just quirky, they're flamboyantly quirky. Mysterious potential love interest David Holland is a stoic, ex-Navy SEAL, who knows just what to do to make a woman melt, and offers bodyguard protection at no cost. Bleccccchhh.
The murder mystery aspect is practically throwaway. A couple of red herrings and then Bennie magically figures out the culprit in the most roundabout, ridiculous way that you can imagine. Who needs detective work? All murder mysteries should be that easy to solve. I still can't figure out why this book needed to be 444 pages long when, really, barely anything actually happened.
Having several subplots floating along with each other with no real depth might be okay if this were a television series - and the hackneyed characterisations certainly suggest these folks would make good TV fodder - but not in book form, and not when there is no suggestion that the plots in this book would even carry over into the next.
Dead Ringer is crime fiction-lite, and not one I would recommend.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
"Killing Cupid" by Louise Voss & Mark Edwards
Siobhan McGowan has had one novel published, but not much success since, and is now running a writing class. One of her students is Alex Parkinson, and it doesn't take long for him to fall desperately in love with her. Unfortunately, it's a one-sided love and Alex begins stalking Siobhan. His obsession is so overwhelming that it results in the death of another member of the writing class, a woman named Kathy, who had the beginnings of a close friendship with Siobhan, one that Alex was quite jealous of. But just how much did Alex really have to do with the death?
I've read some truly terrible psychological thrillers, such as "Hanging Hill" by Mo Hayder and "Bloodprint" by Kitty Sewell, and some underwhelming ones like "The Executor" by Jesse Kellerman. So it was great to read a psychological thriller done right, as it is in "Killing Cupid". I hadn't been too impressed with these authors' other book "Catch Your Death", so I was very pleased that I really enjoyed this one. Once again, it just goes to show that you shouldn't write off an author based on one misfire.
The strong point here is the characterisation. The book is told exclusively through the point of view of Siobhan and Alex as they write in their journals. While I've never understood how people could remember entire conversations word-for-word to put in their journal, it was something I was able to gloss over because Siobhan and Alex came across as real people. People I could actually meet in real life. And even when they were doing outrageous things, I still liked them.
I really must emphasise how well-drawn the characters are. They are so clearly defined that you understand and believe their actions. This is particularly important in the second half of the book when the fortunes of the characters begin to change and Siobhan's behaviour descends into stalker-like territory of her own. Since she seems like a real person with real feelings and insecurities, her actions make sense.
And perhaps that's one of the books failings - it works so well as a character study that it never quite ratchets up the tension you would expect in a really good thriller. Don't get me wrong - I would highly recommend this as a psychological thriller that's done right - but there's just not a sense that things will go terribly wrong, especially after Siobhan's behaviour goes more-and-more off the rails. The idea that Kathy's death may or may not have been a murder isn't explored enough to have much impact, and therefore there's not a feeling that any of the main characters are in potential danger.
It's hard to explain why the book works so well despite the lack of genuine suspense. I liken it to "Eyes" by Felice Picano - the events are extremely fascinating, but not as exciting as they could or should be. The appeal here is getting inside the heads of two interesting characters and understanding their actions, even when those actions go against what is acceptable in society. The fact they both remain likeable is a real testament to the skill of the authors. After all, there are a lot of books out there where I've truly detested the hero or heroine.
If you enjoy a good psychological thriller, "Killing Cupid" should be right up your alley. There's no random murder thrown in like most in this genre to pass it off as a psychological thriller. Rather, the crime elements (or even lack thereof) arise naturally out of the characters and the proceedings. I've already downloaded "Forward Slash" (love the title) onto my Kindle to see what else these authors have in store for me. It's always good to have a second chance pay off.
I've read some truly terrible psychological thrillers, such as "Hanging Hill" by Mo Hayder and "Bloodprint" by Kitty Sewell, and some underwhelming ones like "The Executor" by Jesse Kellerman. So it was great to read a psychological thriller done right, as it is in "Killing Cupid". I hadn't been too impressed with these authors' other book "Catch Your Death", so I was very pleased that I really enjoyed this one. Once again, it just goes to show that you shouldn't write off an author based on one misfire.
The strong point here is the characterisation. The book is told exclusively through the point of view of Siobhan and Alex as they write in their journals. While I've never understood how people could remember entire conversations word-for-word to put in their journal, it was something I was able to gloss over because Siobhan and Alex came across as real people. People I could actually meet in real life. And even when they were doing outrageous things, I still liked them.
I really must emphasise how well-drawn the characters are. They are so clearly defined that you understand and believe their actions. This is particularly important in the second half of the book when the fortunes of the characters begin to change and Siobhan's behaviour descends into stalker-like territory of her own. Since she seems like a real person with real feelings and insecurities, her actions make sense.
And perhaps that's one of the books failings - it works so well as a character study that it never quite ratchets up the tension you would expect in a really good thriller. Don't get me wrong - I would highly recommend this as a psychological thriller that's done right - but there's just not a sense that things will go terribly wrong, especially after Siobhan's behaviour goes more-and-more off the rails. The idea that Kathy's death may or may not have been a murder isn't explored enough to have much impact, and therefore there's not a feeling that any of the main characters are in potential danger.
It's hard to explain why the book works so well despite the lack of genuine suspense. I liken it to "Eyes" by Felice Picano - the events are extremely fascinating, but not as exciting as they could or should be. The appeal here is getting inside the heads of two interesting characters and understanding their actions, even when those actions go against what is acceptable in society. The fact they both remain likeable is a real testament to the skill of the authors. After all, there are a lot of books out there where I've truly detested the hero or heroine.
If you enjoy a good psychological thriller, "Killing Cupid" should be right up your alley. There's no random murder thrown in like most in this genre to pass it off as a psychological thriller. Rather, the crime elements (or even lack thereof) arise naturally out of the characters and the proceedings. I've already downloaded "Forward Slash" (love the title) onto my Kindle to see what else these authors have in store for me. It's always good to have a second chance pay off.
Monday, September 2, 2013
"Have You Seen Her?" by Karen Rose
Special Agent Steven Thatcher is on the case of a serial killer who is abducting and murdering cheerleaders across the state. Making things difficult is his home life - youngest son Nicky is still traumatised after being kidnapped (which happened in Rose's previous "Don't Tell"), and oldest son Brad is misbehaving, and his grades are dropping.
Jenna Marshall is Brad's teacher and concerned about his failing grades. She organises to speak to Steven. Of course, the attraction is immediate. Complicating things for Jenna, however, is the fact that she has failed student Rudy Lutz and gotten him kicked off the baseball team, angering his father and friends, and she is now the subject of a campaign of terror in an effort to make her back down and let Rudy back on the team.
Although the book cover states that "finding the (killer) is Steven's over-riding objective", Steven spends most of his time acting like a complete moron in his romantic pursuit of Jenna, who may wind up being the next victim of the serial killer.
A better title for this pile of shit would be "Have You Seen The Plot?" Because there is none to be found here, folks. I hated this book. I really, truly hated it. To call this "romantic suspense" is a stretch, because suspense is at a complete minimum. The complete and total focus here is the romance between Steven and Jenna. And the multitude of issues that prevent them from getting together.
The cause of most of these issues is Steven. He is a complete imbecile. If you want to read a romance about an emotionally-stunted, tantrum-throwing manchild, you've come to the right place. If you want to read a romantic suspense thriller, you're better off throwing this piece of junk into the fire and picking up one of Rose's other novels. While all her novels contain a somewhat exasperating degree of emotional and romantic angst, they generally all contain complex, interesting plots.
Not this one. The serial killer murdering cheerleaders is very much in the background. More focus is actually given to the terror campaign mounted against Jenna by Rudy and his friends. The rest of the book consists of Steven being a complete juvenile prick towards Jenna and Jenna constantly forgiving him because she just can't resist him. I have detested more than a few book characters in my time, but Steven Thatcher earned a new level of contempt from me. What an appalling, disgusting, pathetic character. I quickly grew sick of his childish antics and melodramatic behaviour. Grrrr. I spent most of the book wanting to throw the book across the room because I hated Steven Thatcher so much.
"Have You Seen Her?" is worthless. It's shit. There's no other way to describe it. It's Rose's worst novel, and easily tops my list of worst books I've ever read. I'm angry that an author can dribble 500 pages of shit like this. Good thing I've read and enjoyed so many other novels by Rose, because if this was the only book of hers to go on, I'd never, ever read her again.
Avoid like the plague.
Jenna Marshall is Brad's teacher and concerned about his failing grades. She organises to speak to Steven. Of course, the attraction is immediate. Complicating things for Jenna, however, is the fact that she has failed student Rudy Lutz and gotten him kicked off the baseball team, angering his father and friends, and she is now the subject of a campaign of terror in an effort to make her back down and let Rudy back on the team.
Although the book cover states that "finding the (killer) is Steven's over-riding objective", Steven spends most of his time acting like a complete moron in his romantic pursuit of Jenna, who may wind up being the next victim of the serial killer.
A better title for this pile of shit would be "Have You Seen The Plot?" Because there is none to be found here, folks. I hated this book. I really, truly hated it. To call this "romantic suspense" is a stretch, because suspense is at a complete minimum. The complete and total focus here is the romance between Steven and Jenna. And the multitude of issues that prevent them from getting together.
The cause of most of these issues is Steven. He is a complete imbecile. If you want to read a romance about an emotionally-stunted, tantrum-throwing manchild, you've come to the right place. If you want to read a romantic suspense thriller, you're better off throwing this piece of junk into the fire and picking up one of Rose's other novels. While all her novels contain a somewhat exasperating degree of emotional and romantic angst, they generally all contain complex, interesting plots.
Not this one. The serial killer murdering cheerleaders is very much in the background. More focus is actually given to the terror campaign mounted against Jenna by Rudy and his friends. The rest of the book consists of Steven being a complete juvenile prick towards Jenna and Jenna constantly forgiving him because she just can't resist him. I have detested more than a few book characters in my time, but Steven Thatcher earned a new level of contempt from me. What an appalling, disgusting, pathetic character. I quickly grew sick of his childish antics and melodramatic behaviour. Grrrr. I spent most of the book wanting to throw the book across the room because I hated Steven Thatcher so much.
"Have You Seen Her?" is worthless. It's shit. There's no other way to describe it. It's Rose's worst novel, and easily tops my list of worst books I've ever read. I'm angry that an author can dribble 500 pages of shit like this. Good thing I've read and enjoyed so many other novels by Rose, because if this was the only book of hers to go on, I'd never, ever read her again.
Avoid like the plague.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
"Identity Theft" by Anna Davies
Hayley Westin is a high-achieving high school student who has turned her back on friends and popularity in a bid to gain a scholarship to university and basically get the most out of life. Things slowly start to unravel when she sees a Facebook page in her name, with pictures of a girl who looks just like her, doing the sorts of things a scholarship-seeking student shouldn't be doing. And Hayley has absolutely no memory of doing these things.
She's sure it's the work of either Adam Scott, her main competitor for the scholarship, or Jessica Adamson, a popular girl who wants to be editor of the yearbook, a position currently held by Hayley herself. However, some clues by her mysterious tormenter makes her look into her own past, in which she discovers she is actually a twin. Could her twin - whom her mother claims died at birth - still be alive and out to take over her life?
I was very excited to read Identity Theft, as it signalled the launch of a new wave of Point Horror, the books I read voraciously when I was a pre-teen and teenager. The genre teen horror line created by the likes of R.L. Stine, Diane Hoh, Christopher Pike and Caroline B. Cooney. Maybe it was the heightened sense of anticipation that led me to be highly disappointed by this book, but I don't think so. Simply put, Identity Theft just isn't very good.
Even more disappointing is that the subject matter was so ripe for exploitation. A Facebook page popping up with pictures of yourself you don't remember that threaten to undo the careful persona you've created for yourself? What a great idea! But Davies completely blows it - the Facebook page pops up every now and then, only to get taken down again. Meanwhile, Hayley just bitches and moans endlessly about the turmoil she's embroiled in.
And it's pretty lightweight turmoil. Identity Theft is an exceptionally slow-paced book, literally crawling from one plot point to another. The psycho-twin explanation finally provided could almost be considered a spoiler since it is so late in coming. Most of the book is taken up with Hayley's difficulties in trying to keep her hold on her carefully ordered life. She bitches and moans. She treats everybody around her like shit. She bitches and moans a bit more. She is distracted by a romance with fellow student Matt Hartnett, who is very thinly drawn, making it hard to understand why Hayley would be so enthralled by him. Probably because, at the end of the day, Hayley is pretty stupid. And annoying. I really didn't like her.
The book - and this could be definitely be considered mild SPOILERS - finally hits its stride when Hayley finds herself committed to an institution with everybody believing she is really her twin. It's the sort of nightmarish scenario that would be exploited to much better effect in a much better book. It's certainly the highlight here, and unfortunately over almost as soon as it begins. At this point, Identity Theft launches into is lacklustre, underwhelming finale.
What was the author thinking? This is how she wants to end the book? Instead of making me read between the lines and trying to figure out what happened, how about telling me what the f*** actually happened? Is it that hard? I'm assuming it involves some sort of car crash, but Davies is extremely vague about what actually went down. It easily kills any chance at suspense.
I won't even go into why Hayley's mother and father thought it necessary to hide the twins from each other. Or why they would supposedly continue to lie about the twin being alive or not. This book is full of holes from beginning to end, painfully slow-paced, and insults the reader by not even bothering to fully explain vital events....like THE CLIMAX, for instance. The main character is a pain in the ass, supporting characters lack believability, likeability or coherent motives, and the rich subject matter is appallingly wasted.
Bring back the Point Horror books of old. They may be dated, a bit dorky and a quickie read, but they were certainly better-paced and more enjoyable than this cynical, gimmicky attempt at a relaunch. Fail.
She's sure it's the work of either Adam Scott, her main competitor for the scholarship, or Jessica Adamson, a popular girl who wants to be editor of the yearbook, a position currently held by Hayley herself. However, some clues by her mysterious tormenter makes her look into her own past, in which she discovers she is actually a twin. Could her twin - whom her mother claims died at birth - still be alive and out to take over her life?
I was very excited to read Identity Theft, as it signalled the launch of a new wave of Point Horror, the books I read voraciously when I was a pre-teen and teenager. The genre teen horror line created by the likes of R.L. Stine, Diane Hoh, Christopher Pike and Caroline B. Cooney. Maybe it was the heightened sense of anticipation that led me to be highly disappointed by this book, but I don't think so. Simply put, Identity Theft just isn't very good.
Even more disappointing is that the subject matter was so ripe for exploitation. A Facebook page popping up with pictures of yourself you don't remember that threaten to undo the careful persona you've created for yourself? What a great idea! But Davies completely blows it - the Facebook page pops up every now and then, only to get taken down again. Meanwhile, Hayley just bitches and moans endlessly about the turmoil she's embroiled in.
And it's pretty lightweight turmoil. Identity Theft is an exceptionally slow-paced book, literally crawling from one plot point to another. The psycho-twin explanation finally provided could almost be considered a spoiler since it is so late in coming. Most of the book is taken up with Hayley's difficulties in trying to keep her hold on her carefully ordered life. She bitches and moans. She treats everybody around her like shit. She bitches and moans a bit more. She is distracted by a romance with fellow student Matt Hartnett, who is very thinly drawn, making it hard to understand why Hayley would be so enthralled by him. Probably because, at the end of the day, Hayley is pretty stupid. And annoying. I really didn't like her.
The book - and this could be definitely be considered mild SPOILERS - finally hits its stride when Hayley finds herself committed to an institution with everybody believing she is really her twin. It's the sort of nightmarish scenario that would be exploited to much better effect in a much better book. It's certainly the highlight here, and unfortunately over almost as soon as it begins. At this point, Identity Theft launches into is lacklustre, underwhelming finale.
What was the author thinking? This is how she wants to end the book? Instead of making me read between the lines and trying to figure out what happened, how about telling me what the f*** actually happened? Is it that hard? I'm assuming it involves some sort of car crash, but Davies is extremely vague about what actually went down. It easily kills any chance at suspense.
I won't even go into why Hayley's mother and father thought it necessary to hide the twins from each other. Or why they would supposedly continue to lie about the twin being alive or not. This book is full of holes from beginning to end, painfully slow-paced, and insults the reader by not even bothering to fully explain vital events....like THE CLIMAX, for instance. The main character is a pain in the ass, supporting characters lack believability, likeability or coherent motives, and the rich subject matter is appallingly wasted.
Bring back the Point Horror books of old. They may be dated, a bit dorky and a quickie read, but they were certainly better-paced and more enjoyable than this cynical, gimmicky attempt at a relaunch. Fail.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
"Impulse" by Debra Webb
Special Agent Jess Harris is about to take on a new job in Birmingham, working for Police Chief Dan Burnett. However, following on from the ending in "Obsession", Detective Lori Wells is now in the clutches of Eric Spears, better known as The Player. He starts a deadly game with Jess, trying to bait her into catching him. He does this by kidnapping various people tenuously connected to her. Whilst the FBI refuses to acknowledge that Eric Spears really is The Player, since Jess bungled the investigation and helped him walk, Jess must use this chance to correct her mistakes and finally bring an end to The Player's reign on terror. Meanwhile, she still continues to have unresolved sexual tension with Dan Burnett.
Okay, so I lied. With my recent acquisition of a Kindle, I was able to purchase this follow-up relatively cheaply, and I figured I may as well find out what happened to Lori Wells at the end of "Obsession". While I can't say this is any step up from "Obsession", it isn't a step down. Thankfully, the romantic subplot doesn't take front and centre, although it does contain yet another tiresome argument between Jess and Dan about who was responsible for their failed relationship. Enough already! These people are supposed to be adults tracking down a serial killer. If I was at the mercy of a deranged murdered who liked to cut women's nipples off, I certainly wouldn't my life in these two hands'. They can't seem to take their minds off each other and their petty problems long enough to solve the case.
Yes, I know this falls under the romantic suspense category and the leads need some sort of tension between them to up the stakes of their relationship, but it needs to rise believably out of the plot or situation. Here, it simply gets in the way. They simply shouldn't be behaving like bickering teenagers when women are being kidnapped and murdered. I didn't like the fact they couldn't just put it aside and get their priorities in order. Especially since they had already bickered about it enough in the first book.
There is a lot of repetition in this book, perhaps to up the word count. Jess hovers dangerously near being a martyr here, constantly agonising over the fact she feels responsible for the women being kidnapped, tortured and murdered. I couldn't help but feel she was partly responsible, since she couldn't act mature enough to put her romantic woes second and her job first, and stop the killer. I also got seriously fed up with the fact she'd always refer to her high heel shoes as "damned high heels" or "blasted high heels". By the halfway point I was yelling at my Kindle: "If you hate your high heels that much stop f***ing wearing them you whinging moron!"
I can't say I liked Jess Harris a lot this go-round.
The violence and torture here is surprisingly hard-edged as well. Some of the violence made me cringe, and I'm generally not phased by lashings of gore in my novels. Perhaps because the rest of this is such run-of-the-mill lightweight romantic suspense. It was somewhat jarring to go from bickering between the romantic leads to descriptions of a tortured woman with her nipples nearly removed. If Debra Webb wants to consider a move into more crime-oriented material, she needs a more even tone. If her main characters are tracking serial killers, their minds need to be more on their work and less on what happened twenty years ago.
Okay, so I lied. With my recent acquisition of a Kindle, I was able to purchase this follow-up relatively cheaply, and I figured I may as well find out what happened to Lori Wells at the end of "Obsession". While I can't say this is any step up from "Obsession", it isn't a step down. Thankfully, the romantic subplot doesn't take front and centre, although it does contain yet another tiresome argument between Jess and Dan about who was responsible for their failed relationship. Enough already! These people are supposed to be adults tracking down a serial killer. If I was at the mercy of a deranged murdered who liked to cut women's nipples off, I certainly wouldn't my life in these two hands'. They can't seem to take their minds off each other and their petty problems long enough to solve the case.
Yes, I know this falls under the romantic suspense category and the leads need some sort of tension between them to up the stakes of their relationship, but it needs to rise believably out of the plot or situation. Here, it simply gets in the way. They simply shouldn't be behaving like bickering teenagers when women are being kidnapped and murdered. I didn't like the fact they couldn't just put it aside and get their priorities in order. Especially since they had already bickered about it enough in the first book.
There is a lot of repetition in this book, perhaps to up the word count. Jess hovers dangerously near being a martyr here, constantly agonising over the fact she feels responsible for the women being kidnapped, tortured and murdered. I couldn't help but feel she was partly responsible, since she couldn't act mature enough to put her romantic woes second and her job first, and stop the killer. I also got seriously fed up with the fact she'd always refer to her high heel shoes as "damned high heels" or "blasted high heels". By the halfway point I was yelling at my Kindle: "If you hate your high heels that much stop f***ing wearing them you whinging moron!"
I can't say I liked Jess Harris a lot this go-round.
The violence and torture here is surprisingly hard-edged as well. Some of the violence made me cringe, and I'm generally not phased by lashings of gore in my novels. Perhaps because the rest of this is such run-of-the-mill lightweight romantic suspense. It was somewhat jarring to go from bickering between the romantic leads to descriptions of a tortured woman with her nipples nearly removed. If Debra Webb wants to consider a move into more crime-oriented material, she needs a more even tone. If her main characters are tracking serial killers, their minds need to be more on their work and less on what happened twenty years ago.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
"Obsession" by Debra Webb
Jess Harris is an FBI Agent whose career is in the dumps after a botched attempt to nail a serial killer. She returns to her hometown in Alabama to help the local police solve the mystery of four missing women. She has a history with police chief Dan Burnett, and the romantic tension between them is still evident.
When a fifth woman goes missing, Jess must put her unresolved feelings for Dan, and her guilt over her failed career, behind so that she can place all her focus on tracking the abductor. It's personal for Dan, as his stepdaughter, Andrea Denton is one of the kidnapped women. As for Jess, she also has to deal with the fact the serial killer she failed to catch - The Player - is now walking free and seemingly stalking her.
Debra Webb is a romantic suspense author with quite a prolific output. The publishers here seem to want to convince us that this is her "thriller" debut - that is, a straight out crime-thriller rather than a romantic suspense novel. On that front, it's a bit of a fail. This is romantic suspense through and through. There is just as much focus on the unresolved relationship between Jess and Dan as there is into the investigation of the missing women. It actually got fairly repetitive. There is also romantic trouble between Lori Wells and Chet Harper, two of Dan's detectives. So anybody thinking they're picking up a serial killer thriller is going to be sorely disappointed.
When it isn't devoting its time to Jess and Dan's romantic woes, it's not too bad. It actually reminded me quite a lot of the TV show Criminal Minds. You could easily see this plot in an episode of that show. The sequences with Andrea and the kidnapped girls are well-done, generating the sort of suspense that a good serial killer thriller should provide. The motive of the abductor is slowly revealed as the novel progresses, and it was a nice change from what you normally find in crime fiction.
The other big problem is the subplot involving The Player. Having another serial killer lurking around the fringes just detracts from the main story. It's only really around so that Webb can set up the events of the next novel. That's a bit of a problem if you're not totally captivated by the current story and don't plan on getting the next novel. But I'm getting off course here.
Jess and Dan's rocky romantic past just took up too much focus for my liking. Even though there are five women missing, and events are getting crucial as the story speeds towards its conclusion, it stops dead in its tracks so that Jess and Dan can have their Big Moment. A long, seemingly never-ending bicker about who was to blame for their relationship failing. Even though Jess keeps saying throughout the story: "we have to find these girls!" she spends an awful lot of time arguing with Dan or having gooey romantic fantasies about him. Tiresome.
It's not awful. It's a romantic suspense novel. Not a thriller. That should let you know whether you want to read it or not. Kind of like a Harlequin Mills & Boon novel with a bit of Criminal Minds thrown in, Obsession won't have me tracking down the follow-ups, but it was a diverting read.
When a fifth woman goes missing, Jess must put her unresolved feelings for Dan, and her guilt over her failed career, behind so that she can place all her focus on tracking the abductor. It's personal for Dan, as his stepdaughter, Andrea Denton is one of the kidnapped women. As for Jess, she also has to deal with the fact the serial killer she failed to catch - The Player - is now walking free and seemingly stalking her.
Debra Webb is a romantic suspense author with quite a prolific output. The publishers here seem to want to convince us that this is her "thriller" debut - that is, a straight out crime-thriller rather than a romantic suspense novel. On that front, it's a bit of a fail. This is romantic suspense through and through. There is just as much focus on the unresolved relationship between Jess and Dan as there is into the investigation of the missing women. It actually got fairly repetitive. There is also romantic trouble between Lori Wells and Chet Harper, two of Dan's detectives. So anybody thinking they're picking up a serial killer thriller is going to be sorely disappointed.
When it isn't devoting its time to Jess and Dan's romantic woes, it's not too bad. It actually reminded me quite a lot of the TV show Criminal Minds. You could easily see this plot in an episode of that show. The sequences with Andrea and the kidnapped girls are well-done, generating the sort of suspense that a good serial killer thriller should provide. The motive of the abductor is slowly revealed as the novel progresses, and it was a nice change from what you normally find in crime fiction.
The other big problem is the subplot involving The Player. Having another serial killer lurking around the fringes just detracts from the main story. It's only really around so that Webb can set up the events of the next novel. That's a bit of a problem if you're not totally captivated by the current story and don't plan on getting the next novel. But I'm getting off course here.
Jess and Dan's rocky romantic past just took up too much focus for my liking. Even though there are five women missing, and events are getting crucial as the story speeds towards its conclusion, it stops dead in its tracks so that Jess and Dan can have their Big Moment. A long, seemingly never-ending bicker about who was to blame for their relationship failing. Even though Jess keeps saying throughout the story: "we have to find these girls!" she spends an awful lot of time arguing with Dan or having gooey romantic fantasies about him. Tiresome.
It's not awful. It's a romantic suspense novel. Not a thriller. That should let you know whether you want to read it or not. Kind of like a Harlequin Mills & Boon novel with a bit of Criminal Minds thrown in, Obsession won't have me tracking down the follow-ups, but it was a diverting read.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
"The Sixth Soul" by Mark Roberts
Detective Chief Inspector David Rosen is the head of the team dedicated to tracking down a serial killer dubbed "Herod". He likes to abduct pregnant women, and then remove the foetus and dump the body. When another woman is abducted, the pressure mounts.
Rosen is contacted by Father Sebastian Flint, who believes that the current killer is recreating the murders of Alessio Capaneus, who believed that he could revive Satan through gathering the souls of six "untainted" people - i.e an unborn foetus. The latest woman abducted is the fifth, which means that the killer is getting closer to obtaining his goal.
Flint refers to a document known as the "anti-bible", which could provide a solution to the slayings. But just how much does he know and how involved is he? And should Rosen worry about the fact that his wife Sarah has just discovered that she is pregnant?
I don't think there was an original thought, let alone an original sentence, to be found within the pages of "The Sixth Soul", but surprisingly it doesn't mean you should avoid the novel. Events move at a decent pace, and it doesn't suffer the long, drawn-out, waiting-for-lab-results issues that affect most crime novels, or police procedures.
Most notably, this is highly clichéd. The lead detective has a tortured past and a wife/girlfriend who just happens to fit into the killer's modus operandi. He has a boss who seems to want his head. He has an underling who desperately wants to undermine him. So there are a lot of police-force politics as this winds its way to the solution.
But I did enjoy the novel. Despite its drawbacks, it was tightly-plotted, well-paced and drew me in. If it weren't so bogged down by clichés, it could have been a real winner.
Rosen is contacted by Father Sebastian Flint, who believes that the current killer is recreating the murders of Alessio Capaneus, who believed that he could revive Satan through gathering the souls of six "untainted" people - i.e an unborn foetus. The latest woman abducted is the fifth, which means that the killer is getting closer to obtaining his goal.
Flint refers to a document known as the "anti-bible", which could provide a solution to the slayings. But just how much does he know and how involved is he? And should Rosen worry about the fact that his wife Sarah has just discovered that she is pregnant?
I don't think there was an original thought, let alone an original sentence, to be found within the pages of "The Sixth Soul", but surprisingly it doesn't mean you should avoid the novel. Events move at a decent pace, and it doesn't suffer the long, drawn-out, waiting-for-lab-results issues that affect most crime novels, or police procedures.
Most notably, this is highly clichéd. The lead detective has a tortured past and a wife/girlfriend who just happens to fit into the killer's modus operandi. He has a boss who seems to want his head. He has an underling who desperately wants to undermine him. So there are a lot of police-force politics as this winds its way to the solution.
But I did enjoy the novel. Despite its drawbacks, it was tightly-plotted, well-paced and drew me in. If it weren't so bogged down by clichés, it could have been a real winner.
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