Jonathan Nasaw Books

This is a great work of fiction. It is well written and masterful. It keeps you hanging on, wondering what will come next. It is a brilliant look inside the mind of a serial killer. It's a definate must!

This is one of the best books I've read. It has all the elements of a great read - scary plot and great characters. I've given this book to friends to read - we all agree this is a top 5 book.

The Girls He Adored

A rather thin and predictable story. So many holes in the narative about a multi personality murderer that in the end the device only served to show the authors flaws in plotline and suspense. Don't waste your time

This book is masterfully written, if you like thrillers without a lot of romance and fluff. But full of beleivable scenerios then you want this book.

The Girls He Adored is a great novel! It has you turning pages almost faster than you can read! I could not put this book down; move over Hannibal, Max has come to town! I loved this bad guy...I mean guys...I mean guy. Max is a whole bunch of bad guys all rolled up into one. Max, Christopher, Mose, Useless, and Kinch Oh My! I wasn't even finished with this book when I got online and bought every other book the author has written. If you like nail biting suspense, with a little gore, and a really complex bad guy thrown in you'll love this book!

I very much enjoyed this book. I was bored the first 1/3 of the way through(hence the loss of a star), but after that it get's interesting. So if you decide to read this one, just hang in there, okay.

Max was absolutely fascinating. I loved the way his charachter was developed. And the writer explains the details about the disorder (DID/MPD) in such a way as to be interesting rather than boring and over my head. This book was without a double one of the better thrillers I've read in recent months. I CAN"T WAIT for the sequel.

An absolutely amazing book, definately for those with attractive, imaginative, delicious thoughts in their lives. Not for the 'unemotional' robots of today.

I enjoyed the concept of this book but for what it was and what it really wanted to tell us, it was far too long. If you are going to make a novel of epic proportions, then you need to create some kind of world like Anne Rice does.

I never knew it was possible to fiend for a drug that doesn't exsist.

I read this years ago and have the sudden urge to read it again. I am one who enjoyed it. Although it portrays the blood lust as an addiction,it shows that not everyone can 'believe' in one thing and needs to find their own way to 'deal' with their addiction rather than a '12 step-ford (wives)' approach. I am an Ann Rice addict and was surprised to find Nasaw's book to quench my thirst as well.

I purchased this book because it was said to be rather good Splatterpunk novel. Although it really did lack the heavy gore or sex that classifies a book as such, the story was not a total disappointment. The story is a new twist to vampires, really giving them a more scientific reasoning for being. I did find it a bit predictable at times. All in all, I did enjoy reading it and will look for other novels writen by Jonathan Nasaw.

Such a dumb book. Almost like a drawn out definition of "FEAR" itself.
And I mean the "word" fear itself.

I went looking for this book, having been told by a friend who had it on her to read list that it involved a serial killer, targeting phobics, and using their worst fears against them.

Wow, I thought, what a great idea for a plot. And it is, it really is. But that's where the great part ended.

The writing style was pretty much average for this type of novel. The ideas behind some of the characters were really good, original, potentially interesting, but that's again where it ended. In the idea stage. When it came time to develop, things began to unravel, and then, to rather promptly fall flat. With many years of experience behind him, and retirment in the offing, the main? FBI agent character suddenly goes brain dead, and forgets how to behave like a professional. Instead, he nearly gets one of the victims killed. I didn't buy that anyone with that vast a field of experience, attracted to a witness or no, would suddenly get that stupid. It frankly reeked of agism. Oh yes, and poor characterization.

The other partial, Persecuted due to disability, mostly former agent with MS, again, potentially a good character, also continues to hang, fall flat, etc. What she's even doing there is often questionable. Were it not, again, this might also be quite good. The author does have a real sensitivity, on some levels, to the plight of the disabled. Perhaps he should have stayed there.

The sister of the killer has downs syndrome. The Killer, who is far too soon revealed, and long before he could really get down to thinking up ever more horrendous ways in which to off his poor victims, frankly what one would expect, considering the idea, yet again, manages to fall flat.

Of all the characters, the sister is the one I actually liked best. Her ultimate disposition, however, felt so contrived as to be ridiculous, lead-ins for it, or no. Too, within this story line, there are places he started to go, then didn't. Rather a tendency toward tangents, that, indeed, I found running throughout the work.

The other character I liked was the phobic female artist. Having found, only halfway through the book, however, what her fate would be, I set the thing aside. Every now and then, I picked it up, thereafter, to slog on through, having paid full price for the paperback, and hoping it would get better. No such luck. The villain, who goes on the run, looks up old chums, etc., just doesn't manage to overcome the yawning.

Perhaps the author's other works are better. If ever I'd be inclined to find out, I'd do it at the library.

If the first Pender book was by turns revolting, scary, and creepy...this one tries to be, but has a lighter tone. Pender is great fun (I wish we had more of Sid, the wise cracking, dapper best friend to Ed), but we don't get even get as much of him. Linda is a decent character, who is not fleshed out. We get a lot of Simon Childs (not real clever with that name, but oh well), who is fascinating in theory, but only fairly interesting in reality. I would have liked more Pender. The book is good in that it does not dwell too long on any one chase (as the last book did at times). The last one worked for pure scare factor, this was more fun, but there are many better thrillers out there. Oh, and why is Nasaw always trying to show us that he must have scored well on his Verbal SATs? I wonder what he is trying to overcompensate for. Still, I'd welcome another Pender novel, but I hope he enjoys his retirement first.

I'm being generous with a 2 star rating, gripping this story was not. I had put this book down several times and it was shear stubbornness that I made myself finish it. Revealing the killer in the first quarter of the book lost my interest.
I experimented in reading the remaining chapters by skipping all sections that had reference to the killer 'Simon'and a really obscure section dealing with his sister. This did not present any problems in following the storyline. I have read many thriller stories dealing with FBI investigations and this had to be the sloppiest. Skipping sections of the book sped up the reading considerably and shortened the story, thankfully.
If this killer was using 'fear', it was a poor attempt. Just pick anyone off the street and torture them, you'll get the same results. I really want to give this one star, I'm just sorry that I spent the time finishing it.

This novel is another spin on the popular genre of serial killer tales.

Simon is a particularly malicious individual, in search of the ultimate adrenalin high. He discovers early in his sadistic career, that by inducing fear in his victims, the rush is the best he can attain. Mixing drugs and torture, he has found the perfect combination. Simon is a smart killer, sophisticated, and plans his fear games to the last detail. He is also rich and can spend full time exploring this deadly activity.

Enter Special Agent Pender, a large, witty and terribly dressed veteran of the FBI on the verge of his retirement. Pender is a likable fellow - he drinks too much, a live-alone divorcee, at the end of a long career. But appearances can be deceiving because this roly-poly officer of the law has been chasing serial killers for twenty years and knows how they think.

Dorie Bell is a middle-aged artist with an unusual phobia - prosoponophobia, fear of masks. Simon has her in his reptilian sights and when she least expects it, he strikes and his malevolent activities begin.

Nasaw writes his descriptions realistically and effortlessly. He's a visual writer, placing the reader directly into his scenes. As you turn the pages of this novel, the images of Simon's sadistic games appear before your eyes - Nasaw is a fly-on-the-wall- writer, which makes this kind of story that much more enjoyable.

As a fan of this genre, I'm intrigued how so many good writers out there can continue to come up with new spins on the ways and methods of the serial killer; Nasaw certainly ranks with the best of them. He seems confident with this genre and writes it superbly well.

With no car, no home, and only a pocket-full of money, Caro Reilly struggles to survive on the streets of San Francisco. In Jonathon Nasaw's fiction, Shakedown Street, Caro and her mom learn first hand what it's like to be homeless. When the guru of Caro's village runs off with the community's wealth, Caro and her mother no longer have a home. Now that they're living on the streets and sleeping in the parks of San Francisco, Caro's life is going to be all about panhandling, picking through trash for food, staying dry from the rain, and for her first time, experiencing life of the homeless.

Shakedown Street is the perfect book for growing teenagers. Caro, the main character, is a young girl who lives with her traveling, religious mother. Caro and her friends deal with a lot of natural, emotional, and physical problems. Caro deals with troublesome situations such as drugs, puberty, sex, and the "hard knock life". Caro and her mother move from home to home. They make many friends who are homeless, sick, or perhaps melancholoy, such as themselves and live with them for a period time. Definetley a good book for the growing teen. I strongly reccomend this book to youths between the ages of thirteen and seventeen.

Nasaw's The Girls He Adored was a scary, thoughtful, and believable tale of horror and psychopathy. This one, Twenty-Seven Bones, is a light tale that's not terribly interesting.

Someone or something is severing peoples' right hands and leaving them to exsanguinate. Ex-FBI Agent Pender is called by his friend, the chief at St. Luke's PD, to come out of retirement (unofficially), to track down the bad guy.

The characters are pretty silly, and the story is pretty unbelievable. I was really ready for the story to end well before its time came. Skip this one.

I've listened to a lot of audio books, but this book, "Twenty-seven Bone" really stand out as an excellent piece of work by Jonathan Nasaw.

Mr. Nasaw chose a wonderful reader, Dion Graham. Mr. Graham can change dialect and accents w/ out a stammer, he mesmerized the audience and really pulls one into the story.

If you are a fan of Cornwell, the Kellerman's or Harris, this is the book/audio for you.

The characters' actions don't always make sense. The descriptions of torture and sex seem to serve no purpose other than repulsing the reader. There's no redeeming quality to the novel, so I can't recommend it.

The title of this effective little chiller comes from the number of bones in the human hand. Nasaw's third entry in the Pender series finds our recently retired FBI agent summoned by an old friend to the island of St. Luke to investigate the brutal murders of a serial killer(s). The reader knows who the culprits are right off the bat, but Nasaw effectively weaves his suspenseful tale by throwing in some interesting subplots and some uniquely envisioned characters. The island atmosphere and language is captured convincingly and the pacing is good for a novel where the suspense comes from wondering when and how the culprits will be apprehended. Good entry and should keep Pender alive for a few more books.

After reading the publishers reviews, we discovered what the publisher meant by "detail oriented". The details turned out to be more about sicko sex than about the exciting and suspsense filled hunt for serial killers. This is the first time we gave up on a book. We're not prudes by a long shot, BUT this was over the top for a murder/thriller/mystery. Frankly, we think it would be wise to list it under adults only or at least warn the reader about the sexually explicit material. Being fans of Jeffery Deaver, Kathy Reichs, Dean Koonz, Patricia Cornwell and others we were in for quite a shock with Jonathan Nasaw. Doubt we'll give another of his books a try.

There is a reviewer below who feels grateful to this book for giving him useful information about the Wiccan culture, and so I feel obligated to write this review.

Jonathan Nasaw's treatment of Wicca in this novel is nothing short of slander. He either did no research into what real Wiccans do and believe, or else he shoved his research aside in favor of sensationalism. Nasaw's Wiccans recite the Catholic Mass backward in their rites; they include an orgy in every ritual; and they perpetrate nasty revenge when they feel wronged. And to add to the inaccuracy, these are supposed to be Dianic Wiccans. Dianism is a subsect of Wicca that focuses on the female aspect of divinity and holds women-only rituals. No way would Dianic Wiccans have a ritual orgy with a bunch of men. Nasaw's view of Wicca is straight out of the Malleus Maleficarum. It would have been OK if he'd just called the women "witches"; it's a vague word that means different things to different people. But he is using the name of a specific religion, and so he has a responsibility to learn something about it before he writes about it. Why? Because people, like the reviewer below, will think he speaks the truth.

If you want to read fiction about Wiccans--real Wiccans, not Nasaw's personal fantasy--try Yvonne Jocks's _Words of the Witches_ or Rosemary Edghill's _Bast Mysteries_. The people in these books are much closer to the reality.

Oh, and by the way, this book is also a violent gore-fest, with scene after scene of gross-out substituted for the plot.

I've always been facinated with novels that have deep dark plots; ones that include witches and vampires and all that supernatural lore. So, it was no surprise to me that I found this book to be a true "novel of erotic suspense" just like the cover promised. I praise the idea of mixing witches with the new idealy twisted vampire. I liked the idea of vampirism being like a drug addiction. It's possible to drop like a bad habit, but why drop it when it really isn't bad? After all, in this book blood drinking makes you stronger, faster, better. . . and from what the book hints at, it makes sex a whole lot better. Vampirism is the perfect drug in this book, it makes you a better person (literally & physically) without hardly any of the drawbacks. After all, what's a little sun sensitivity here and there. Needless to say, I liked the new twist. Though it disappointed me that Jamie and Selene didn't remain happily ever after, the course of their lifes events was none other than symbolic and meaningful. After all, they ended their romantic relationship the same way that it began. And though it made me sad to see it end, the conclusion was none other than profound. The book was complete with challenging obsticles to overcome and full of people bound emotionally to the main character. It had plenty of self discovery on Selene's part, and events that made her come face to face with decisions about the people she loves. It bothered me that this book is not one to have a happlily ever after in its ending, but then I came to realize that even with its preternatural twist, life is often like that. Life isn't judged by its beginnig and end, its the middle that counts,good and bad, its all the significant and profound events in-between.

I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end! The story (to me) is beautiful and mesmerizing!

I give this novel only 4 stars because it is a bit of a let down at the end. I was hoping for the two main characters (Selene and Whistler) to stay together, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be!

After reading the book, I would love to see it made into a film, but it would be deserving of a rating beyond "R" because it is very sexually explicit and there is far too much violence, nudity and vulgar language involved!

Overall, I highly recommend this novel! It is a great read for those who like the surpernatural, which involves witches, and a lighter version of vampires.

If you're into SUSPENSE, HORROR, and MYSTERY, then this book is for you!

An amazing, kind of sequel to The World On Blood. I didn't really think of it as a sequel though. But I still found it thrillingly sexy, seductive and captivaing. It kept me awake until 5am because I couldn't dare tear my eyes away from the horrifingly spledid story! Completely wonderful, I loved it almost as much as I loved The World On Blood.

It amazes me to see so many highly rated reviews on here. I read this book and the world on blood and found many editorial mistakes. It was like reading a book that wasn't related at all to the first. There were flashbacks that mentioned things that never occured in the first book as well as mentioning that Selene didn't know Whistler's wife. I was really dissapointed in this book. An I also agree with the previous posting about his use of the Dianic name in his Witchcraft. As a practicing witch, I was rather offended by Nasaw's lack of research into the religion and the way he portrayed the rituals. I had high hopes after the world on blood but this book was just a let down.

This book was readable and had kind of an interesting idea, but it was slow in its pace. The bad guys were actually kind of boring and did not seem all that horrific. The motive for the murders was weak. Original I guess but weak. The local real estate big shot that joins with the serial killers had to be dumber than a box of rocks to think that his plan was a good idea. What he should have done was turn them in and become a media hero. Even the final - Well, there really was no grand final climax, but the ending of the cave scene was kind of ho-hum. There was never a time in this book that I felt any of the main protagonists were in any real danger. Even the final wrap up, with Bennie, Apgard and the money was just too darned convenient to be taken seriously. "Wrap-up" Now there's a funny unintended pun if you read the book. Probably 200 pages or so into this story or maybe earlier, my goal was to not give up and just finish it because I had invested the time to read the first 200 pages. I don't believe I will be reading any more books by this author. Too slow, poor motive, and one dimensional characters make this one a book to pass on for me.

I borrowed this book on CD from the library and it was incredible! I found myself taking the long way since I listened in the car! Captivating, suspenseful, an awesome story. (If you listen rather than read, not safe for young ears!)

I throughly enjoyed this thriller about a couple who believe the way to enternal youth is breathing a dying person's last breath. Couple this with their island helper's penchant for collecting the right hands of this couple's unfortunate victims, and you have a tale that is not to be missed.

This book introduces a bunch of characters within the 100 first pages, too many if you ask me. The start is slow, after page 100 each page is a strugle to turn, it's just a bit boring. The plot is weak, as is the motive. The only thing that saves this book from getting just one star from me is the nice background setting the auther sets fort he story. He did his research, to bad a great background donsn't make a great story.

Nasaw typically writes a great thriller, and this is no exception. The disheveled former FBI agent Pender is back on stage to bring another serial killer to justice. In this case, the stage is the fictional island of St Luke (think US Virgin Islands), and the serial killer(s) are already quite advanced in their careers. Nasaw spends some time going into their motivations, which are fascinating and well-thought out; he develops several characters fully and dramatically; and he effectively uses the island culture, its people, its history, and its geography as well. Nasaw is a pro and knows how to write a tight story.

This kind of book is never going to appear in the literature section of the library, but if you are looking for a great summer crime story, you could do a lot worse than to read 27 Bones, or any other of Nasaw's books for that matter.

This was my first time reading this author's book. It was a strange book. I didn't know what to expect and parts of it seemed to be a little far-fetched (one guy overpowering and killing four people at once?). It seemed to be a take on the "Natural Born Killers" aspect, only using mentally and emotionally damaged people instead.

Obviously the subject matter concerns psychologically and physically abused people, which is traumatic enough to those who have suffered in this manner, but to exploit them to commit crimes rather than to seek help for them was a real turn-off for me.

I know it can happen and probably has, but the psychotic "break" the two main characters had in their mind should have been an impetus for healing at the hospital, rather than the so-called "treatment" they were given. Instead,the end result of non-healing created the violence they perpetrated, so those involved with the responsibility of caring for these people have no one to blame but themselves for not establishing a true and honest program to help them get well, instead of allowing them to be overcome by their other selves, hence the frenzied mayhem of deceit, rampage and murder.

Other than this, the book is well written.

I have not read this author before. This entry was not one that would hook me for another. The bad guy is only part of several personalities and the switching was carried to the ridiculous.

Excellent reading. Highly recommended. You will read this book in one sitting.

Jonathan Nasaw's new thriller, When She Was Bad, again demonstrates why Nasaw has been called "the new master of the psychological thriller" (Toronto Sun). The plight of Lily touches you because her character is so well-developed that you sympathize with her even while she angers you. FBI agent, E.L Pender, is again onboard as is the serial killer, Max/Kinch/Lissey.

Readers will better understand this one if they have already read The Girls He Adored, Nasaw's first book in the series. Although the subject is serious (dissociative identity disorder--once called multiple personality disorder), a quirky humor is present throughout and makes the tension more bearable. Nasaw delves deeply into the psyches of two sexually abused individuals and wants the reader to understand how events in their young lives fractures their minds so badly that they can no longer cope.

It seems as though is not Nasaw's objective to try and trick the reader as to who killed whom. His writing is much more intelligent and serious, with humor thrown in for a read that is both thrilling, while seeking to define what happens to sexually abused individuals in our society today.