Serial Murder Books

Nice twist to the serial killer style novel. Lots of interseting North Carolina references (which I liked). The police procedure
in this novel rivals the 87th Precinct novels of Ed McBain.

Jeff Pate's "Winner Take All" was a great book, especially being a first novel. I liked it a lot. I would definitely classify "Winner Take All" as one of the best books I've read in the past 12 months. The cover was great, the dust jacket information was insightful, giving an idea of what the story was about without giving away the entire story.

This was just a great book, writing wise. The plot lines tied together early, so you could see where some of the sub-plots were going to mesh with each other. Hager's family involvement, while it starts slow, is something that becomes more intricate as the novel progresses. This type of foreshadowing makes it believable when the time comes for his daughter to get involved. The plot was well-done. All the elements for a serial killer book were present. The unknown killer who gets to be a viewpoint character briefly, the dedicated SBI people, the local police. The details about serial killers and criminal investigation are there, which tells me that the author knows the subject, and has done the research to make the book believable.

Virtually unknown outside of North and South Carolina, Jeff Pate is an author with the potential to make it very big. "Winner Take All" would make a great movie. I just picked up his second "Eye of the Beholder" and I'm anxious to get started.

I discovered author and former police detective Jeff Pate in April at a book event in Myrtle Beach, SC where he was promoting his new novel "Eye of the Beholder." Not only is he more handsome in person, but he's very personable and chatted with everyone who came by his table that evening (For you ladies, I learned he was very single!)

I bought "Eye of the Beholder" then, read it and just had to rush back to the store to get "Winner Take All." Being the first in his series featuring Clark Hager, I wanted to start from the beginning (although I cheated and read "Eye of the Beholder" first) so I can keep up with his great cast of characters. "Winner Take All" was great. Jeff Pate develops his plot and ties the sub-plots together in a neat package--all making for an exciting read. What stands out in my mind as Pate's greatest quality is that his characters seem life-like and the book reads as if it really happened. I've finally found another author whom I can trust to keep me interested in his series. Read all books by Jeff Pate--you'll become a fan, too.

Even allowing for the fact that this is the author's first book, it is so bad, it's painful to read. I had to force myself to finish this book. The story is rambling and weak, the writing poor, the characters are cartoons, the grammatical and spelling errors insulting. Perhaps a competent editor would be of value to this author in future endeavors, although I have my doubts.

This book is absolutely, without a doubt the biggest grammatical error of all time. I'm astonished to read that he gave an editor credit for making it better. The sentence structure of this book reads as if it was written by a 10 year old. Spelling errors abound including: "During her childhood he was "puddy" in her hands, but she was the clay a sculptor molds into a Venus de Milo." pg 115. I live in VA and I'm pretty sure that putty is spelled with "t's" in the south as well as the rest of the US.

I read over five books a week and this is the first book that was so poor that I wanted my money back. I kept reading it thinking it surely had to get better. Trust me, it's a disaster from page one to the end. I wish the publisher would quit cutting down trees to publish books by this author. Jeff Pate would do us all a huge favor by signing up for some English classes. The storyline is weak and disappointing. If Clark Hager were a "real" detective, I hope they would fire him for all of his errors. I'm planning on mailing my copy to the publisher with notations indicating the numerous (100's) of grammatical and spelling errors.

I had read a recommendation on this about it being a great read but I was quite disappointed in it. Almost like a variation on Hitchcock's "Frenzy" with the actual crime not to mention some stalker movies/books I've read. Not a bad read, just disappointed (I guess you could call this a so-so review due to a backlash from having read such a glowing recommendation).
I like Martha Grimes, Michael Connelly, T.Jefferson Parker & Robert Crais. I also have read all of Dame Agatha and Marsh.

One cannot always explain why things are. Why do I not like vanila ice cream while someone else loves it? This book just wasn't that enjoyable.

It's a hard feat to switch point of views as often as the writer did in this book, and failed to suceed. By always jumping into another character's pov, the reader always knows what's going on, which losing the mystery of the mystery.

The main charcter was dislikable, to say the least. He was arrogant, pushy, and rude. And I normally love villains. His IQ wasn't even that high, as some suggest. He was stupid where as the writer tried to make him sound smart. I love smart serial killers, who have a method to their madness. Mix lacked this entirely. He killed out of passion, and fumbled around being obvious to try and cover it up. I would have been much more interested in reading a book about his role model, Christie, and his murders.

The characters themselves though were pretty in depth, I have to say, which is why I gave this 2 stars as opposed to 1. She really gave you a lot of background information and let you get to know the main characters, which I love in a book. I just was very disappointed that none of them got their happy ending. And I am not even into happy endings. The endings, for everyone, just felt rushed.

All the longing for the boy next door, to finally get him and reject him? Bleh.

All the longing for the supermodel to finally get in and walk away? Bleh.

All the longing for the good Doctor and then she up's and dies before there's any resolution? Bleh.

I wouldn't recommend this book. To anyone. In fact, I'm throwing my copy away after that dull read.

If you're expecting a comfortable, Wexford-like read, this isn't it! I'm a huge fan of Rendell's Inspector Wexford series. This book, not so much. I have enjoyed a few of her other forays into Wexford-free mystery, but this one left me pretty cold. Maybe it's because so little of Wexford's character is revealed in each novel, so that each revelation feels like a major concession and you really become sympathetic with the character, but Mix and the other characters in this book seem peculiarly wooden and contrived.

As far as I know, it's the only book in which Rendell writes from the point of view of the murderer, so maybe that's the problem, but I actually found it quite disturbing. I had to put the book down a number of times to get my thinking straight again. Mix really doesn't have any redeeming qualities at all, classic socio/psychopath, but dammit, I was just SCREAMING for him to get caught before he'd even committed his first murder. I couldn't stand him. Maybe that was the point.

The old lady was pretty reprehensible too. She wasn't likable at all, and the other characters were all of the slappable variety as well. I didn't like a single one of them, and so had a hard time feeling any sympathy/empathy for any of them. I did kind of cheer for the model a little bit at the end, but even so, she was a vapid twit. and vastly annoying.

I was very disappointed in this book, especially considering how excellent Rendell's writing usually is.

In a nutshell...a very readable story with lots of "Oh they're bound to catch him now" moments; so good as far as suspense goes but a let down at the end in that it just well, ended...nothing remarkable at all.

I felt the book was too padded out with stuff that was really irrelevant, like the doctor that Gwen writes to (after reading his wife's obituary) in the hope of resuming their romance from half a century ago. Or the clairvoyant that everyone seems to visit and whilst she does tend to `see things' relevant to the characters...it's still really unimportant. The fixation with Narissa doesn't really need to be there either or her fixation with some other guy whom she realises isn't for her anyway.

I'm glad I read it, it wasn't a bad read...I like suspense but not the best.

I enjoyed the story. Like every other book written by Lisa Jackson I think she goes into detail way too much, but I've learned where to skim through her words and where I need to pay attention. While I guessed part of what was going on, I definitely did not figure out the entire story of who the killer was and why until it was revealed and for that, I give the author kudos.

Yes, is some of the story far-fetched, absolutely! But it's FICTION, not true crime. IMO, it's like in the movies when someone enters a scary place and you find yourself yelling at the t.v. - don't go in there and they do (they always do). Of course they do, it's what sells, just like in books. Same goes with the part that everyone seems to be related to one another - I personally thought that part was downright hysterical (which means it's entertaining and isn't that what it is all about).

As for leaving things untied, I see how that happened with Eve's brothers, no real ending with them (which makes me think maybe something more will be explained in another book?). As for Eve's relationship with Cole, I thought there was nothing wrong with the way it ended. And of course the Epilogue sets up the next book, it's a series isn't it?

I've read several of Lisa Jackson's books, and while I've liked the Bentz/Montoya stories, I thought this book was her worst by far.

It started very slow and didn't really pick up until close to the end. The storyline was confusing from the get go because so much had happened already before the book began, and the author didn't do a good job of recapping it. She also didn't do a good job of weaving in previous storylines, so someone reading this book without having read the others in the series would have no idea what was going on with Faith, Abby, Father James, etc.

The story went on too long and the way everyone ended up being related to each other was just beyond the realm of believable. It actually turned the book into a joke.

Too many ends were left hanging. What happened to Eve's brothers? Her father's will? Why the tattoos? What happened with Eve and Cole? They were the main characters through the book, but the whole wrap-up was about Kristi, setting up the author's next book with a cliffhanger, but not bothering to wrap things up for the main characters that we just spent nearly 500 pages reading about.

The book was also poorly edited, just like "Shiver." On one page, Montoya is talking to Bentz, Eve and Cole at Eve's house. On the next page, he's getting annoyed that Bentz hasn't yet shown up for their meeting with Eve and Cole, and Bentz is at the police station interviewing a possible witness. And this seems to continue in the next book of the series, as during the preview, it says on one page that Kristi and Olivia don't get along, then on the very next page it says they get along but aren't close.

Don't waste your money on this one.

I've read a few of the reviews and many have stated that there were some aspects of this book that were unrealistic... true. When I buy fictionally based books, I'm looking at the entertainment value, not whether or not the story is correct in procedures or religious practices.

As far as the entertainment value of this book is concerned, it was good and I enjoyed it, but was a little disappointed in the sudden ending. The build up was pretty suspenseful, and then BAM! The story ended without much of an detailed explanation of what happened to the main characters, with the exception of Kristi, who I had a hard time caring about throughout the telling of the Absolute Fear since she seemed like a sidekick throughout the book. The book was a little long, so I'm wondering if the meat of the ending wound up on the editing room floor in an effort to save a few pages of text.

All in all, I'm giving this book 3 stars. A good read, but not excellent/outstanding. I think it's predecessor, Shiver, was a much better book. Better character details, and a lot better ending!

i thought it started out very slow. Then it got really good, then the end..it just seemed rushed. The ending to me, didn't really have anything to do with the story. As one person wrote, you don't know how Eve's and Cole's relationship ended up, besides them getting back together. It just seemed Jackson wanted to hurry and start her new book which apparently is the sequel to this one.

By the end of this book, it seemed that everyone in it was related to everyone else and about the only person who wasn't a blood relative to the killer(s) and/or victims was the reader, and the family tree was so convoluted I began to question my own lineage. And wasn't it convenient that all the people involved in the cover up or frame up or who were unwitting victims all had names that were palindromes? What about the tatoos? Honest, I knew what the tattoo meant the first time it was mentioned and the second time and the third time. I wanted to scream at the detectives in this one: Wake up, idiots! And these were detectives I liked in previous works by Lisa Jackson. This book was kind of interesting for the excitement end of it, but the mystery was no mystery (except when the ultimate bad guy turned out to be someone we hardly even meet in the book) and the romance between Cole and Eve was simply ridiculous. He was so abnoxious, I can't believe Eve was so shallow as to have any interest in him at all. On the other hand, why would this intelligent rising star of a lawyer be wasting his time with such a self-destructive airhead as Eve Renner? Maybe it was because he managed to lose his apparently substantial amount of accumulated wealth in about a month. He lost his house, his car...Everything and for what? Because he was a suspect? Cole definately needed a better financial planner. Okay, he had a great body and she was willing to do the deed with him whenever oppurtunity knocked. I wonder how their relationship will be in twenty years when he isn't the great hunk anymore and she's still hopping into bed with any stud who has a little animal magnetism. I don't know what to make of the explanation of the 'phantom' sperm. That was just way too convenient for the bad guy. Then there was Kristi, who found out late in the book how she was related. Kristi quit her day job on the off chance that she might be successful as a writer of true crime stories. Did she ever stop to think she might have to live for maybe a couple weeks before she started receiving royalty checks? How about an advance check if she had even started to write something? I don't know how that works, but can an unpublished, unknown and even unstarted writing writer earn a living? Anyway, I continue to count myself a Lisa Jackson fan, but this one was close to puting me over the edge and saying no more. I look forward to her next novel, but ABSOLUTE FEAR was not up to her usual standards. Bring on LOST SOULS! Maybe I'll re-read SHIVER or THE MORNING AFTER. Those are Lisa Jackson at her best.

Not what I expected after reading "The Exorcist". This book features the befuddled Detective Kinderman. Jeez Louise! I could not read one page without going back and scratching my head. Kinderman's ridiculous, annoying and totally useless musings ruined what I guess could have been a good book - couldn't make it past 30 pages. Lose Kinderman and this book would have been about 50 pages long.

This book is about Giminy killer, I didn't read my book yet, but it should be about the movie. There should be movie tie-ins.

When I read "The Exorcist", I was scared out of my wits. Then for years, there was nothing from Blatty until the early 80's when he wrote this follow-up novel, "Legion". So, what did we get in "Legion"? Well, we got info-mania, which was becoming the rage then, as Blatty demonstrated with Lt. Kindermans' endless trivia lectures as he tried to make sense of the so-called "Gemini" serial murders, with the modus operandi the same as the dead Gemini killer. And yes, Kinderman's stereotype IS shameful.

But, tucked inside this horror-meets-procedural story is a truly creepy short-short story trying to climb out as a character who is a neuro-surgeon struggles with two secrets: his evolving brain disease and his obsession over his lover's death, which makes him explore the "other side" with tape recorders in his efforts to contact her.

Here is where Blatty fascinates us; and here is where you'll realise, slowly, that you've SEEN this somewhere before...oh, yes, that's it! Michael Keaton's forgettable movie "White Noise" of a few years ago which pretty much stole the idea.

How did this guy Blatty get pushed out of the water by Stephen King? Not many people know about him unless you've watched or read (insert Clarance Thomas joke here) The Exorcist. This is numero three in the Exorcist series and what a way to end it. This book has a multi-dimentional character about it that Stephen King could only dream of attempting in one of his stories. There's a great story in this book(horror and detective), believable characters, actual places, etc. I love the author picture on the back too. It's so late 70's Burt Reynoldesque. If you want a good read for this Halloween season or really just anytime, check it out!

William Peter Blatty's "Legion" isn't so much a sequel to "The Exorcist" as an enjoyable example of a genuine Catholic making sure, really making sure, that he believes in God--sometimes using embarrassing plot devices/tools to achieve that end.

I oscillated between loving Lieutenant Kinderman and absolutely hating him. If I were Atkins, his second in command, I would respectfully turn around at some point in the metaphysical catastrophe and say: "Lieutenant, I know you've read a lot of books. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were an extremely educated man, particularly in theology. But there are times when your dandyish intellectualism gets a little overbearing and while I love your last fifteen paragraphs about how evolution HAS to lead to an afterlife, I think it's time we attend to this whole business of Father Damien Karras being trapped inside of a serial killer in a mental ward--after all, that's what this book is about. Then we can talk philosophy."

Still, the conversations between Kinderman, Father Dyer, Amfortas and Tommy Sunlight especially are irresistible for any believer/nonbeliever who likes to think on a cosmic and human level simultaneously. There is that chilling, eviscerating atmosphere that only Blatty can produce (I wish he'd write more) as though Satan is going to pop up at any minute as only this author could depict. I cannot believe, though, that a guy as obviously educated (and don't we know it) as Blatty would take EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) seriously. He's really grasping there: the chapter in which Kinderman reads the letter Amfortas sent to Father Dyer
is enough to make one blush. Apparently all the dead do are hang out and quote the Bible while being recorded in open air.

The origins of Tommy Sunlight and the events which lead to his possession of Karras aren't very satisfying. There are bone chilling moments but on the whole Blatty could have done much more with this very vital piece of the novel, which was done far better in the film version with George C. Scott. At the end, Tommy Sunlight simply fades out and that's it. People may call the end of the movie adaptation unduly dramatic but it certainly beats this. Anyway, this is a must read for fans of "The Exorcist" just for closure and maybe to provoke some deep thought.

Great book - until the ending. WTF? Did Perry have a deadline to make? It was so abrupt... not his best work. Very disappointing.

This book was a total waste of time. I am still wondering why I didn't just abandon it along the way!!

I have only read first 2 chapters, and am at burn out already as this book seriously needed a proof reader simply because they say first and last names way to many times in a paragraph instead of just using first name only .Example is the name Hugo Poole is used 4 times in 1 paragraph when they are only talking about him , and is same for other characters in first 2 chapters . I am almost certain this cannot be the best of Thomas Perry .

As a fan of Thomas Perry's, I was a bit disappointed in this book. He does his usual wonderful job of creating settings and bringing action to life. Each scene is carefully crafted, and many are full of the kind of suspense at which he so often excels. The premise of the book is compelling and it has one of the best beginnings he's written.

So why three stars? Perry is a master at describing settings, creating unlikely but richly defined characters, and, most of all, fascinating pursuits with a stream of identity changes mixed in. In Nightlife, this combination of skills never really gels into a tight story.

1. The ending is frightfully predictable. Long before the final clash, you can see it coming; and, when it does it's abrupt and uninteresting.

2. The romance is superfluous. It adds nothing substantive to either the plot, or our understanding of Catherine Hobbes, the heroine of the story.

3. The events are episodes that are somewhat loosely connected. The continuity of the pursuit that fuels his best works such as Butcher's Boy and the early Jane Whitfield books is missing.

Read this one at the beach or while on an airplane. It's Perry after all, and still worth the time.

The twists and turns in this book keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found myself enjoying an evil serial killer way too much. I highly recommend this book.

I love to read suspense thrillers. This is one of the best that I have ever read! It kept me guessing until the very end. Not the typical serial killer book. Also very different that most of Saul's books.

This abridged audio book is the worst I've listened to having been cut from over 400 pages down to 3 very short audio CDs.

The story doesn't flow from one event to another, instead people dissappear during conversations, past conversations are referenced that never took place in the audio book, and people travel miles between one sentence and the next.

To abridge this book they gave the paperback to a monkey in the zoo, let him randomly tear out pages, and what was left they gave to Lee Merriweather to read. It's a confusing mess.

Never again will I purchase an abridged version of a book. I've read the book and all I can say is "Poor John Saul".

I enjoy a good mystery and horror book as much as the next person. But I also enjoy being surprised about where the plot takes me. Nothing irritates me more than being able to predict what happens with the story after reading 1/2 of the book. Unfortunately, this is what occurred with John Saul's Black Lightning. In addition, the book's plot moves very slow, and I felt almost forced to keep turning the pages. Definitely not a book that you feel you have to keep reading.

I thought the book was okay. It started out with a man on death row who maintains his innocence and the journalist who played a role putting him away. However, I had no idea that this book was sci-fi. I do not care for this genre but it was still rather suspenseful. The ending left a lot to be desired but it's a good book if you're looking to kill time in a waiting room or on an airplane.

Black Lightning,

Cliché ?

Many writers use this type of story often. Does this take away from the enjoyment of the read? I say NO! I rather enjoyed this book. If I would have listened to what other reviewers had to say I would have never have read John Saul.

Anne and Glen Jeffers find themselves trapped in a nightmare that seems to have no end. A serial killer seems to be haunting them from the dead. Anne and her husband are taken on a whirlwind of a ride.

I thought the book moved at a nice pace, it kept me turning pages. I do not like to give away plot so I will just continue with my overall opinion.

This book does borrow many elements from horror books that have gone in the past, but I believe this genre has plenty of room for more books like this. Overall this book was fun and enjoyable. I never felt bogged down or bored. The pages turned at a nice pace and the story flowed smoothly. John Saul has a very smooth way of telling a tale. Although this book may not be great, I felt it was good and deserved much better treatment than many reviewers gave it. I liked the book well enough to purchase other Saul books.

OUR LADY OF PAIN is a clever British police procederal with a dash of romance thrown in for good measure. It is the second novel by Elena Forbes to feature Samantha Donovan and Mark Tartaglia of the Barnes Murder Squad.
Rachel Tenison, a successful London art gallery owner, is murdered in Holland Park and left nude in a pose that suggests a ritual killing. The detectives get a tip that indicates they are dealing with another serial killer. (the first book of the series, DIE WITH ME, also featured a serial killer).
The story moves briskly through the details of the police investigation, leaving plenty of time for Tartaglia and Sam Donovan to wrestle with their personal lives. OUR LADY OF PAIN is not my cup of tea, but it may well be yours.

This book kept me riveted. It's a fine mystery with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end. Very entertaining, and worth a second read. This is a British author, and as an American I did get lost with some of the British terminology, especially the abbreviations (what's an MP?) Also although the ending has a nice twist, I wish the perpetrator had been introduced more thoroughly. Still a good book I would recommend! Also, it was good enough that I would like to go back and read the author's first book.

There are several things that I look for in a mystery. The story should make me care about the characters. There should be plenty of clues. The solution should be an "of course" moment. It should be well-paced. "Our Lady of Pain" has all of these. The author does a great job of avoiding the "sophomore jinx" by writing a good follow-up to the first book in her series.

Rachel Tenison, a beautiful art dealer, is found dead in a park one snowy winter morning. Her body is found in a way that suggests a sadistic killer. Who wanted her dead? Was it her business partner, Richard Greville? Her half-brother, MP Patrick Tenison? Her occasional lover, Jason Bourne? Her friend, Liz Volpe? And is this murder related to the murder of Catherine Watson? Detectives Mark Tartaglia and Sam Donovan have to sift through the clues and find the killer. There are enough suspects and clues as well as red-herrings to keep the story moving.

London is a used well as a backdrop in this "noir" mystery where it is always either snowing, raining, or night time. The author creates a dark atmosphere which permeates the story and helps creates a sense of impending evil. It's not the greatest mystery ever written but as an entertaining read it fills the requirements. If you are looking for something fast and cleverly written, then you can do a lot worse than "Our Lady of Pain".

As cold and chilly as London in Winter time, this compelling police procedural is a harsh reminder of the price we pay for obsession and the sacrifices we can sometimes make for love. Set just a few months after both Mark Tartaglia and his colleague Sam Donovan battled the serial killer known as the Bridegroom, where both nearly lost their lives, this novel opens as DCI Carolyn Steele calls Mark to a suspicious death at Holland Park, the victim female, late twenties or early thirties, stripped naked, her body kneeling in the snow. When a positive ID is released the Barnes Murder Squad discover that her name was Rachel Tenison, an art dealer who was last seen at work in the West End on one late afternoon a few days ago. According to her business partner Richard Greville she failed to turn up for work the next morning. Rachel's Knees and ankles were taped together and there is bruising on her face and scratches around her mouth; it's also possible that she was sexually assaulted.

Mark, Sam and the rest of the team are certain that if she was killed in the park, this means she was there roughly two days, but there's no evidence of a struggle. Her head was bent right over, touching the ground, and her face was almost entirely hidden beneath a tangle of pale blond hair that spread out stiffly in front of her like waterweed, her skin as white as snow.

Toxicology reports say that she reeked of booze, and there was bruising on her neck and breasts, as though she had been raped and killed by two different people in the space of a few hours. It is almost as though she was drunk and had rough sex, whether consensually or not. There's also no evidence of a struggle or anything suspicious having gone on in the flat, although Mark does notice that it doesn't look lived in, as though its almost like a theatre set with none of the usual feminine clutter.

Rachel's brother, Patrick Tenison, a local up and coming MP can shed little light on her movements on the days before his sister's death. Indeed, he seems to speak of his sister with a type of off-handed dispassion as though he were a third party observer. Although he does tell Mark that Rachel had been having an affair with Greville, her boss at Christie's, but the relationship had run out of steam a while ago, probably because Greville was married and would never leave his wife.

As the monochrome images of the naked and bound Rachel kneeling down in the snow keep flashing through Mark's memory, the Barnes team gradually develop a profile of a totally organized and a clear thinking killer, certainly not someone in a panic. The way the body was bound and exhibited after her death was also sexual and ritualistic. Surprisingly, the team keeps turning to Rachel's best friend Liz Volpe. Liz was about to inherit Rachel's flat on Camden Hill, but from the way Liz talked there was something odd about her relationship with her best friend. Mark is positive that Liz is hiding something or even protecting someone and it's strange that she's so out of touch with what was happening in Rachel's life.

With practiced dexterity and with prose that seems to dance off the page, author Elena Forbes ties in all of the peculiar threads of Rachel's murder into another crime that was committed a few years previously, the victim being university professor Catherine Watson. The killer had taken his time and tortured Catherine over a period of several hours. Like Rachel, she too had had a mystery caller the night before she died which indicates that both women knew their killer. Both were also roughly the same age, and they were both well-educated, intelligent and successful women in their own fields.

It isn't long before Mark and the rest of the squad are thrust into a subliminal world of female fantasies, of dominance and submission, where Rachel's sexual kinks are almost like a secret world and a type of rebellion against the straitjacket of what was expected of her. Forbes writes her fast-paced and compelling drama from every angle: from the disaffections and insecurities of detectives who betray their positions of authority to the various suspects and acquaintances of Rachel - and Catherine - who gradually line up, all desperate to provide an alibi. But it's the handsome Mark's dedication to the case that eventually allows him to unravel the mysteries behind both murders.

In the end, the Barnes murder team faces treachery from one of the most unexpected places and the poor Sam finds herself yet again the victim, walking straight into the lion's den of misplaced passion and obsession in a shocking and most unexpected finale. Mike Leonard September 08.

"He turned around, about to go, when he noticed a set of six large, framed, grainy black-and-white photographs that took up most of the back wall. Each image was of a naked man, wearing a mask. With some the mask covered the entire face, with others just the upper half. The men were muscular, almost overdeveloped, and were posed against a variety of interiors, the images slick, atmospheric and designed to titillate." -- From Our Lady of Pain

In the second installment of the Barnes Murder Squad Mystery series, the cast of Mark Tartaglia and company encounter yet another bizarre set of murders: two women bound, positioned in a pose of prayer. Are they connected via some ritualistic serial killer? Or could this be a copycat killing motivated by the seething emotions of vegeance and jealousy?

When neat-freak art dealer Rachel Tennison is found nude in a snowy park, bound in an unusual praying position with hair flowing around her, an obscure poem stuck in her mouth, the Barnes Murder Squad arrives on the case to sort out the type of woman Rachel had been in order to find out who might want to kill her...and why.

And, they find a woman far different than her immaculate apartment would indicate. (Wait to you see what they discover in the locked trunk at the foot of her bed...)

Although author Elena Forbes' Our Lady of Pain is a faster-paced read than Die With Me, there are still some flaws. In this particular story, descriptive filler chokes dialogue with all the endless play-by-play with smoking, puffing, inhaling, stinking from all the smoking--and then, drinking...wine, whiskey, more wine, a spot o' tea here and there...

Geez! Do policemen in the UK really drink on duty? All the freakin' time? I mean, the heavy-handed description of all the smoking and drinking each character does is unnecessary. Ms. Forbes, if your character's dialogue is strong, you don't need to pepper every darn sentence with chain-smoking and boozing!

Egads...

Possible spoiler alert: (Quit reading now if you don't want a hint of a spoiler). Some of the characters that figured prominently in Die With Me are no-shows in Our Lady of Pain (e.g. pathologist Fiona Blake), but new ones arrive. And it's their sudden arrival that sends alarm bells that one or more of them would somehow be involved in the murder. (Neon sign, anyone?)

That's what made the ending of Our Lady of Pain so disappointing. Although I figured it was "one or the other", it was, again, much too neat for my tastes. In my opinion, casting someone involved in a murder investigation as the criminal is too overdone and predictable. Better to make it a complete stranger, one who never becomes involved in the investigation in terms of solving/helping, even if you have to toggle into his or her "mind" to up the suspense-ante.

I felt that the Mark Tartaglia of this book was less thoughtful and more woman hungry, a departure from the serious (albeit red-blooded), likable detective from the first book. I felt that the characters didn't evolve--they felt more distant and two dimensional this time around.

Although Ms. Forbes' descriptive ability is admirable, it's a bit of a backhanded compliment that I remember her smoking/drinking filler more vividly than anything else in the book. If only she would use that talent to describe something other than what the characters--major ones or minor--are doing with their freakin' hands at the time!

All in all, it was an enjoyable read (despite my misgivings), although I CERTAINLY don't think it's worth over $10. (In other words, read it at the library or wait for it to come out in paperback.)

-- Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book

I have just finished Faye Kellerman's magnificent historical novel, and the emotion is still with me. There have been many novels, and even more histories, describing the horrors of the Nazi years, but Kellerman, like me, is interested in causes. How did Hitler come to power, and why did Germans support him?

(NOTE: In my first novel,The Heretic (Library of American Fiction), I dealt with the causes of the Spanish Inqisition. In the interests of full disclosure, I must add that Ms. Kellerman gave me a very gracious blurb comment for that book.)

The preface to Straight Into Darkness, written by an unnamed person, establishes a mood of darkness, doom, anti-semitism, woman-demeaning, pro-Hitler, unrepentant anger. "It is simple," he writes. "Germany didn't really lose the Great War ... Blame others, especially blame Jews ... Why should we take responsibility."

Kellerman chooses to tell the story of Hitler's rise to power in Munich in the manner she knows best, a complex detective story that allows her full rein to incorporate the horrors and pressures of the early Hitler years. There are several murders, and more than a few suspects, and the answers lie always just a bit out of reach.

It is interesting to see Kellerman skillfully developing new characters, after years of her detective series, where she and her regular readers know Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus as if they were family members.

In 1930s Munich, there are no heroes, but in Axel Berg and Martin Volker, Kellerman has created two intriguing characters, each competent and with some moral compass, but also seriously flawed, sometimes working together and then in conflict with each other. We don't know until Kellerman's thundering conclusion, which I will not share with you, how each finally resolves his response to those pressures.

"Straight Into Darkness" is Ms. Kellerman's second historical novel, The The Quality of Mercy being the first. I for one hope it is not the last.

Having now published two novels myself --- A Good Conviction, a NYC-based legal thriller which tells the story of a young man wrongly imprisoned in Sing Sing for a murder he did not commit by a Manhattan ADA who may have known he was innocent ... and The Heretic, a historical novel describing the persecution of a family of secret Jews by the Catholic Church on the eve of the Spanish Inquisition --- I have devised a self-education project to help me become more attuned to the techniques and styles of other authors, and thus (hopefully) become a better novelist myself.

"Straight Into Darkness" is one of the novels I've read as part of this self-education project.

I'm organizing my thoughts into various categories relevant to writing, such as ... "beginnings" ... "conflict" ... "characters" ... and others, and I've posted my observations as a blog, which turns out to be a wonderful way for me to organize and retrieve my notes.

This also puts my thinking in the public domain. So if you'd like to see my evolving comments about writing novels, I invite you to take a look at my "Education of a Novelist" blog.

You can reach my blog by searching the web for "weinstein education of a novelist."

LEW WEINSTEIN

Reading a story about a serial killer set in Munich in 1929, you know there is not much room for a happy ending. The people the killer doesn't kill are going to suffer through a terrible war; if they're Jews, they're going to get gassed.

This is a personal story for Faye Kellerman. She is an Orthodox Jew whose father served in the Second World War and was part of the forces that liberated the concentration camps. She never got his whole story while he was alive, and this fills her with regret. But Straight into Darkness isn't his story, it's an exploration of Munich at the tipping point into Nazism. She did a ton of research for this book, traveling to Munich and meeting with Germans who survived that time. The result is a city that comes to life in sights, sounds, and even smells.

City Homicide Inspector Axel Berg is no hero. He's a persistent cop who doggedly pursues his case. His superior is a power-hungry sadist who values Berg's skills but mistrusts his independence. Meanwhile Berg pilfers evidence and slaps around his teenaged Jewish mistress. Munich in 1929 is a fearful city. It is barely under the rule of law, and the rival political factions are practically private armies, marching around in signature uniforms. The Nazis brownshirts are the most egregious, but there are others who are ready to brawl with them and only the unarmed police are there to prevent mob violence. Times are bad for everyone, with the country emerging from hyperinflation and basic necessities like coal and coffee too expensive for working people to take for granted. If the Jews are responsible for every problem, that takes the responsibility from the government, the police, individuals, and society.

This is an excellent book, with the extra spark provided by Kellerman's passion. Mob-think never goes away, and if we can understand past events with the perspective provided by distance, we are closer to understanding our own time.

I read this book without being prejudiced about Faye and her previous works, this book in my opinion an exceptional fictional experience of the 1920's Germany, The political and social scenario's can be experienced and felt.
You can alost smell Hitler, his Brown Shirts and the streets of Munich.
Hitler's uprise and his impact on the German youth, overall characterization of Munich and depiction of post war depression is what held my attention.
Nicely tied with the murders and lead characters with personalities that almost seem real.
I highly recommend this book - but please note that it contains some disturbing sexual and voilent accounts.

Faye Kellerman has made a reputation for herself as a detective novelist, writing books mostly with modern characters, the primary ones being a LA cop and his wife. She's also done some other stuff, one involving strange supernatural events and characters, another a cop thing with her husband, and some years ago she wrote a historical novel set in England several centuries ago.

This current book is a historical novel too, but the main character (Axel Berg) is a police inspector in 1929 Munich. As the story begins, he's confronted with the murder of a young married woman whose body has been found in a large park in the city. From there, things get complicated. A second body is discovered, and while the plot is thickening, we also learn that Axel isn't exactly an angel himself. As if things weren't complicated enough, Hitler and the Nazis try to take advantage of the murders by blaming them on the Jews. Berg's not convinced: whatever else he is, he isn't an anti-semite.

The book operates on a number of levels. Kellerman's handling of the main character and Germans of the era in general is generally fair, and interesting. She doesn't pull any punches with regards to the anti-Semitism (not surprising: she and her husband are both Jewish) but she doesn't make the Jewish characters in the story into saints, or all the Gentiles monsters, either. There are many layers and nuances to the characters, and not all of them are immediately apparent.

I will not one semi-negative thing. The author has several of the characters saying at various points in the book that Hitler was illegitimate. At one point someone recounts that this was in a newspaper, and several of the characters then discuss whether it's the case or not, even adding to the story by saying that Hitler's father married his mother while she was pregnant, to provide legitimacy for the child before he was born. I've never read anything like this in any of the books I've read about Hitler (and I've read more than a few). I have no idea if such things were in the press at the time in Germany, but nothing like this occurs in the modern writing about Hitler.

That said, this is an excellent book. I enjoyed it a great deal. It *is* a bit long, but if you stick with it you'll find it a very good book.

This novel begins with the words of an old artist in New York in the year 2005: "red is the color of shame...the shame of my generation, of a people who accepted genocide as the most expedient way to restore the Fatherland to purity and greatness...[we] must carry the burden of shame and guilt for [our] elders' unspeakable acts."

Straight Into Darkness is set in Munich in 1929 and conveys with accuracy the cultural and political atmosphere of Munich in the years when Hitler's threat was not yet taken seriously. Kellerman decided to write this book after a book promotion tour to Germany in 2001, which led to her discovery of her father Oscar Marder's experiences as a Jewish GI stationed in Germany during World War II. In her preface, she mentions many of the historians of Bavaria and Munich which she consulted in person - the historical facts and descriptions are well integrated into her story for the most part. Her picture of the neighborhoods, the class structure, the architecture and decorating styles of the period, as well as of the squalor of the working classes, is visually and olfactorially involving, making vivid a vanished time.

The police face many moral dilemmas in the course of solving the murder cases, as well as in dealing with the personalities, political beliefs, and demands of their superiors and fellow policemen. The historical setting adds a fascinating layer to these routine conflicts. "So easily I could have become one of them," says the old artist at the end - and as I read, I had to agree. No one's hands are clean in this book, not even Axel Berg's, and yet his choices must be respected. I found Kellerman's treatment of Germans and Jews to be quite evenhanded; she goes into detail to convey the historical roots (the first war's treaties, the Weimar republic, and the fall of the Wittelsbacher dynasty in Bavaria) that led ordinary Munich citizens to be vulnerable to Hitler's rhetoric. I had read the facts - but this book shows us people enraged and humiliated by these events.

Berg dialogues with his teenage son Joachim:
Joachim: "It disturbs me that the Nazis mock anyone who disagrees with them. Sometimes I speak up...but sometimes I don't."
Berg: "Part of being clever, Joachim, is knowing when to hold one's tongue."
Joachim: "But being clever isn't the same as doing the right thing."

Joachim, near the book's end: "I know you don't like Herr Hitler, but he knows the problems that face us. And he's working hard to bring the German race back to glory ----"

Yes, there is a "love story" - Axel loves his wife but has a Jewish mistress, Margot. I cannot remember ever reading such an honest rationale for infidelity as this one:
"Britta was agreeable in bed, warm and enthusiastic - a far better lover than Margot. He strayed not because he lacked desire for his wife. He strayed because of the bitterness of her harsh speech...because his wife's flexibility was morally superior to his rigid stubbornness. He strayed because sex with Margot held no demands."

All that good stuff aside, the search for the murderer involves a tangled web of family relationships that you'd better be awake enough to follow. If you like less complex solutions, you won't be happy with the resolution of the mystery itself. It's not predictable, though! And the ending is not "happy" in the usual sense. The assortment of policemen are sometimes difficult to keep track of, but one stands out - Kommissar Martin Volker - a complex and unforgettable character. At the end, you will discover another reason why the painter paints in red....

I happened to watch One Life To Live when the book came out and I enjoyed wacthing it. It was so great that the storyline became the plot of the book that Marcie thought up.

Excellent book loved it was better then seeing it on the soap opera. Would love for her to write more books. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and guess who did it.

The synopsis of the book made it sound fairly descent, but I was wrong. The first murder took up 50% of the book leaving me to wonder when were these other "murders" going to happen. The main character Jamie seemed flat and boring. She was engaged to her boss and yet seemed to not really care for him or even show him any respect. (If you read the book you'll know what I mean). The last "murders" did not happen until the last 35 pgs of the book. By then I sorta figured who the murderer was and not really surprised. I do not reccommend spending more than what I spent on this book (1.50) because that's all it's worth. If you want a good murder mystery read a James Patterson book.

I have to admit that this was my second time attempting to read the book. I was not able to get through it the first time. However, i was really into the book the second time around. Michael malone wrote a great mystery novel. You do not need to be a fan of "One Life To Live" to enjoy it. There was one point which I forgot that this book was "written" by Marcie Walsh, which is a character on "One life to live".

I bought this book as a gift for my mother. She's an avid fan of the show and couldn't wait to really read this book that everyone was talking about on her favorite soap.

Take it for what it is...a book written by a fictional character on a Soap...it's a read for fun! If you really like the show, I'm sure you will love it.

I think it was my mom's way of kind of being part of the action because everyone on the show was reading it. I thought it was a cute concept. Anway, again, she loved it and I have since read the book myself. I do not watch the show or know anything about the show, but I did enjoy this book as well. It was a really fun and easy read. So whether you do watch the show or do not, I honestly believe you will like this book. I did and my mother loved it.

I'm glad I could do this for my mom. She deserves something nice every now and then...a little "I love you just because gift" never hurt anyone and books are great for that! Thanks for listening to me ramble!!

Andrew Cunanan was a liar, drug seller and a serial killer. He had few redeeming qualities as a human being. Indiana writes his book as a romantized crime novel. I thought the technique was OK, but felt that Orth's book was more serious in detailing the participamts story. Indiana does state that Miglin was involved at some point with Cunanan, while Orth's book leaves that up to the reader to decide. At the other extreme, Orth does state that Versace knew Cunanan whild Indiana says that may have happened. In any event, Indiana covers the gay scene in more detail on what goes on beyond closed doors. This was pretty graphic stuff. Also, Indiana's book has some good pictures of all the participants.

This is an OK book on the Cunanan murder spree of 1997. I thought Indiana's technique was OK, but I preferred how Orth organized her book. Indiana's book was shorter and therefore could be easily read in a shorter period of time. In any event, Andrew Cunanan is now forgotten for the terrible violence he visited on five people.

This guy's writing style is awful, just awful. He's apparently a big fan of run-on sentences that are a half-page long. I've met high schoolers that were better writers.

As far as the Cunanan murders go, the author provides lots of speculation but few hard facts. Maureen Orth's "Vulgar Favors" was much better, IMHO.

Who could not remember the bizaare tell of the great homosexual flirt of South Miami's slaying of a fashion icon? It's so bizaare, so unreal, it reeks of Coen brothers. As they say - only in America.

The Cunanan story is fascinating. Rightly, Indiana adopts an almost dandy-esque
"In Cold Blood" interpretation of the story. What's even better is that there is a whole reference to the subtext of the love of fame. Oftentimes Indiana uses Cunanan as an interlocutor in a discourse about fame and the love thereof.

I'll not forget Indiana writing that Cunanan had confused fame and existence.

When humans muddle this distinction and construct artificial masque upon artifical masque a fascinating subject of psychological study is born.

Highly recommended.

An odd, book, best termed fantasy based heavily on research.
Witty and true to the voice of what we know about Cunanan and the scenes he was in. I recommend you read this after reading everything else - Maureen Orth's book, all the articles, and seeing the A and E biography on Andrew. With that as perspective, you can see how Indiana falls into place true to
voice. I know alot of people didn't like this book, but I think you have to be willing to take it for what it is to get it.
And I do advise you get it....

I was interested in Andrew Cunanan, objectively and with no judgement to how he was percieved on tv. I was hoping that this book would give some factual insight into what initiated the "3 month fever", but found this book terribly difficult to read. Not just that, most of the book has "conversions" between dead killer and dead victim, written in italics, as if that is what transpired between them - like the author actually interviewed them or something. Where the hell did he get these "conversations" that clearly could NOT be true, almost insisting that is what truly occured. MOST of the book is written this way - some fantasy conversation the author thought to himself perhaps?

The thing that made this book so impossible to read was Indiana's writing style. He starts out painfully annoying, describing everything to death - way too many metaphors used. Sentences that ran on and on for pages (not making this up). It was like some grad student attempting to write in a "different" kind of writing style to show off, instead of doing the subject some justice and writing facts - did he run out of facts because he barely interviewed anyone??? Then toward the end, he rushes through everything - the details of the 3 months are only just a few pages long while the rest of the BS runs chapter upon chapter!

Overall, it was annoying to read and the reader NEVER finds the motive behind this man. Not even possible motives. Just ramblings of what Cunanan may have said to himself or to others, none of which can be proven to be true. Total waste of time!