The Book Gourmet

I’m a big fan of Ms. Rose and as far as KR fare goes, this doesn’t disappoint. It holds her usual cocktail of chilling, thrilling suspense, wickedly insane serial killer, dark pasts, deep-buried secrets, traumatic upbringings, and a side-dish of hot romance.

On the other hand, I was rather disappointed with the slowness of the pace (I became a fan because her books were always fast-moving page-turners), and the annoying heroine (which came as quite a surprise, since this was a Karen Rose book).
I simply didn’t get Lucy. She was an emotional cripple, which was understandable given what she’s been through in the past, but still, she took the emotional-crippledness to a higher level that was necessary. I didn’t get the secret-keeping, it wasn’t like she was a porn-star or anything that could ruin her career, and I didn’t care for her attitude—again, understandable due to the past, but still, a bit over the top.

Also, the thing with the PI bothered me quite a bit. I understand the whole PI-client confidentiality thing, I understand the fact he and his deceased partner have helped quite a lot of people to disappear (not really through legal channels), but still, when the bodies start piling up and you know who did it, why wouldn’t you tell the police and prevent more bodies from piling up? Would someone really be that stupid to stand in the way of justice for...I don’t know what reasons?

All in all, I have absolutely no idea how to rate this one. On one side it was great, on the other...not so much. I guess I’ll just go with the middle ground. 3 stars...Fine 3 ½.