The Book Gourmet

A killer is plaguing Washington, D.C., strangling women with a priest's amice and leaving notes about their sins being forgiven. The police is stumped, so they reluctantly engaged the help of psychiatrist Dr. Teresa Court.

As the tension over the murder case rises, sparks fly between Tess and Detective Ben Paris, but soon they're not just sparks of animosity.


I already read this one in 2011, gave it three stars without writing a review, and completely forgot about the story. On this second re-read, it loses a star, but I'm pretty sure that I'll still forget about it, since it was quite a disappointment.

I liked the premise, the suspense (what there was, that is), and I liked the killer's mind. Unfortunately, he was relegated into the background, overshadowed by the two protagonists and the drama around their budding "relationship".

I didn't like neither Tess nor Ben. He was mostly an ass with a chip on his shoulder about shrinks (rather understandable, but they cannot all be the same) and she was a bleeding heart convinced the killer needed help and healing. She seemed not to care much about the killer's victims or the fact the guy was a killer, she just wanted to help him.
So I wanted to smack them both, I didn't buy their romance because of their different opinions and stands on quite a lot of things...

The only saving grace was the aforementioned killer (pity, he didn't appear much), the final surprise when his identity was revealed, and Ben's partner Ed, the gentle giant.
I'm quite looking forward to his story.