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scnole2021's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
desert_rose's review
5.0
This is the debut novel of this author and what a debut!
It's the first book with detective Stride although I read the third book in the series (Stalked) first and that was before I knew it was a series.
Lieutenant Stride and his partner Maggie have been investigating a missing teenage girl's case for over a year with no luck and then another teenage girl goes missing.
No signs of running away are detected and no clues to where she could be.. All the evidence points that she was murdered.
So are they looking for a serial killer or is this something family related. Everyone seems to think that the missing girl "Rachel" is a disturbed girl doing an evil trick but is she? Or is she really murdered? With twist and turns to keep you turning the pages as fast as you can.
I really enjoyed this book, with wonderful characters that you just have to love. The investigation was so exciting with all those surprise twists and turns. I've found that I was smiling while reading some passages and really visualizing what I was reading. Amazing writing!!!
I will be sure to start the second book in the series soon!! Very recommended for crime/thriller fans like me :D
Quotes I enjoyed from the book:
"Is that Lieutenant Stride? you sound like you just woke up."
He lay back in bed and closed his eyes. "I did just wake up . And I won't admit to being Stride until I make a pot of coffee. So how about we call this a wrong number?"
"She sounded sharp on the phone. I bet she's a looker."
"Why's that?"
"She's from Vegas. All the girls in Vegas are gorgeous."
She stuck out from the other passengers as loudly as a piece of crystal amid a row of Burger King plastic cups. She was dressed in baby blue leather pants that clung to her long legs link a second skin. A silver chain belt looped around her waist, with the ties dangling between her legs. She wore an undersized white T-shirt that didn't reach far enough to cover the last inch of skin on her flat stomach. Her black leather raincoat draped almost to her ankles. She had glossy black hair, loose and luscious.
She's my little evil twin, her mother used to say about Serena when she was a child, because they looked so much alike.
"Was that real smoke I saw coming off you and Stride in the airport?"
"It was an accidental cigarette burn on a Burberry coat."
"Yes, but you don't smoke."
It's the first book with detective Stride although I read the third book in the series (Stalked) first and that was before I knew it was a series.
Lieutenant Stride and his partner Maggie have been investigating a missing teenage girl's case for over a year with no luck and then another teenage girl goes missing.
No signs of running away are detected and no clues to where she could be.. All the evidence points that she was murdered.
So are they looking for a serial killer or is this something family related. Everyone seems to think that the missing girl "Rachel" is a disturbed girl doing an evil trick but is she? Or is she really murdered? With twist and turns to keep you turning the pages as fast as you can.
I really enjoyed this book, with wonderful characters that you just have to love. The investigation was so exciting with all those surprise twists and turns. I've found that I was smiling while reading some passages and really visualizing what I was reading. Amazing writing!!!
I will be sure to start the second book in the series soon!! Very recommended for crime/thriller fans like me :D
Quotes I enjoyed from the book:
"Is that Lieutenant Stride? you sound like you just woke up."
He lay back in bed and closed his eyes. "I did just wake up . And I won't admit to being Stride until I make a pot of coffee. So how about we call this a wrong number?"
"She sounded sharp on the phone. I bet she's a looker."
"Why's that?"
"She's from Vegas. All the girls in Vegas are gorgeous."
She stuck out from the other passengers as loudly as a piece of crystal amid a row of Burger King plastic cups. She was dressed in baby blue leather pants that clung to her long legs link a second skin. A silver chain belt looped around her waist, with the ties dangling between her legs. She wore an undersized white T-shirt that didn't reach far enough to cover the last inch of skin on her flat stomach. Her black leather raincoat draped almost to her ankles. She had glossy black hair, loose and luscious.
She's my little evil twin, her mother used to say about Serena when she was a child, because they looked so much alike.
"Was that real smoke I saw coming off you and Stride in the airport?"
"It was an accidental cigarette burn on a Burberry coat."
"Yes, but you don't smoke."
jmj697mn's review against another edition
4.0
Not bad. I enjoyed the setting of Duluth, MN (of course) but it took a bit to get into this one. The first 100 pages seemed to go rather slow but once I got past that, the story flew. The ending seemed a bit out there, but the twist was fun. Good effort & I look forward to his next one.
heatherg213's review against another edition
4.0
Ah, summer...that magical time of year when a (not-so-young) woman's fancy turns to MURDER. Well, at least this not-so-young woman. Summer is the time when I catch up on all of those popcorn books I've been wanting to read-the ones that don't make me think so much but satisfy my need for pure reading escape. This time, it was the book Immoral, by Brian Freeman.
At first glance, this book is just another formulaic mystery/thriller. A young girl goes missing. A hard-working but seriously flawed detective tries to figure out what happened to her. John Stride is haunted by the disappearance of another girl the year before-a girl who was never found. But that girl, Kerry McGrath, was a good girl with no secrets. The victim of the most recent disappearance, Rachel Deese, was a wild child with a sordid sexual history and a sociopathic personality. Nevertheless, the media is calling for an arrest, and despite not having a body, they have a perfect suspect in the creepy step-father. Sounds fairly unoriginal as a plot goes, no? But when the trial part of the book ended about two-thirds of the way through the book, I realized that in fact, something else entirely was going on.
Freeman does a good job of creating characters, and he draws you into not just the mystery itself but the lives of all of those involved. I happen to be watching The Killing on Netflix right now, and I see similarities to the way the book and the show are structured. Immoral is not just the procedural you might expect, but looks closely at how the case, and the missing girl, affect the police investigators, the parents, and the community. The only thing that gave me a little bit of pause was the fact that Rachel was seen as a sexually precocious teen who may have "asked" for what happened to her. But I think that Freeman gives enough background about her life and her evolution as a cruel, damaged person to counteract my gut-reaction feminism. It was believable to me that she could, in fact, have been the instigator of her relationship with her step-father. And since Freeman takes what you think you know and turns it on it's head in the last third of the book, that particular aspect ended up not being relevant anyway. Good summer read for the mystery lover!
At first glance, this book is just another formulaic mystery/thriller. A young girl goes missing. A hard-working but seriously flawed detective tries to figure out what happened to her. John Stride is haunted by the disappearance of another girl the year before-a girl who was never found. But that girl, Kerry McGrath, was a good girl with no secrets. The victim of the most recent disappearance, Rachel Deese, was a wild child with a sordid sexual history and a sociopathic personality. Nevertheless, the media is calling for an arrest, and despite not having a body, they have a perfect suspect in the creepy step-father. Sounds fairly unoriginal as a plot goes, no? But when the trial part of the book ended about two-thirds of the way through the book, I realized that in fact, something else entirely was going on.
Freeman does a good job of creating characters, and he draws you into not just the mystery itself but the lives of all of those involved. I happen to be watching The Killing on Netflix right now, and I see similarities to the way the book and the show are structured. Immoral is not just the procedural you might expect, but looks closely at how the case, and the missing girl, affect the police investigators, the parents, and the community. The only thing that gave me a little bit of pause was the fact that Rachel was seen as a sexually precocious teen who may have "asked" for what happened to her. But I think that Freeman gives enough background about her life and her evolution as a cruel, damaged person to counteract my gut-reaction feminism. It was believable to me that she could, in fact, have been the instigator of her relationship with her step-father. And since Freeman takes what you think you know and turns it on it's head in the last third of the book, that particular aspect ended up not being relevant anyway. Good summer read for the mystery lover!
the_dubious_muse's review
1.0
Got about halfway through this and frankly got bored, constantly hoping there would be some twist that would keep my interest. Maybe I watch too much ID channel but this is a standard paint by the numbers police procedural with no real hook to maintain my interest. I simply don't care enough about this story to continue reading it.
stevem0214's review
3.0
Decent book. Freeman's writing style is a little different in that he seems to throw the character at you then go back and fill in the build up. All in all a good story with a surprise ending. I want to read more of the Stride series. I hope like most, they get better as they go along.
stephreadsal0t's review
4.0
This book was Gone Girl level of good to me. Very glad I learned about this author recently via Kindle First. I decided to go back and read his debut and read it in a single night. The characters are complex and realistic.
gspar's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
karingforbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This was very clearly written by a man. And I have a problem with that because all of the women were either victims or sex objects. I realize it was written in in 2005, but nonetheless it just is cringe. That said there was tension towards the end in particular where I wanted to know what had happened. Yet again there was a problem. the problem being that there’s just so much going on in this book. There’s three different murderers, two dead girls, incest, pedophilia, and rape. Which first of all doesn’t all need to be in the same book and second of all just felt like he was trying to cram too many events into one mystery. also I think he makes a lot of moral judgments and I don’t think the author really knows what a court trial or a jury trial looks like so I didn’t necessarily love that part either. For a mystery set in 2005 written by a man it’s typical. But as a woman in 2023 I wouldn’t recommend it.