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paulabrandon's review against another edition
3.0
Det. Serena Alvarez and Det. Regan Pascoli have a new serial killer to deal with. This guy is encasing women in ice sculptures. When the bodies are discovered, Serena realises that they bear jewellery that belongs to her! Complicating things is the arrival of both ex-lover Dylan O'Keefe in her life, plus Gabriel Reeve, who may just be the son she gave up for adoption sixteen years previously. It's apparent the killer is fixated on Serena, threatening both her and those she loves.
Left To Die and Chosen To Die were both dreadful books. Pure trash! So why would I pick up another book in the series? Well, I got it from the library, of course! This one was much better than those two, although that is kind of like saying a mild rash is better than an STD. In any case, it worked well as a standalone story, and if Jackson's editors had been a bit more prudent with their editing and shaved off about 50 pages, it could have been a really good thriller!
Working against it is the fact that it's too repetitive. Characters ruminate about the same things over and over again. There is too much focus on the characters' personal lives. I pretty much skimmed anything to do with Regan and her two kids! It never really felt pertinent to the unfolding events. Plus, there were too many uses of one of my personal crime novel pet peeves - the entire backstory of a character who is only there to discover a dead body and is never heard from again! There are also a couple of dream sequences, another pet peeve!
But what did work? The relationship between Serena Alvarez and Dylan O'Keefe was surprisingly well handled. They acted like adults. Too often in this genre, the female and male leads act like such juveniles you marvel at how they could ever be put in charge of a police investigation! Not so here. The identity of the killer was cleverly done, and made sense. His motive - not so much! The climax of the novel was definitely a highlight. If you can end a book on an adrenaline high, that always gets an extra star from me! Do a bit of trimming, and this could make a decent movie/TV movie - another endorsement!
Certainly not a shining example of the best the genre has to offer, due to far too much padding and repetition, but I ended up enjoying it!
Left To Die and Chosen To Die were both dreadful books. Pure trash! So why would I pick up another book in the series? Well, I got it from the library, of course! This one was much better than those two, although that is kind of like saying a mild rash is better than an STD. In any case, it worked well as a standalone story, and if Jackson's editors had been a bit more prudent with their editing and shaved off about 50 pages, it could have been a really good thriller!
Working against it is the fact that it's too repetitive. Characters ruminate about the same things over and over again. There is too much focus on the characters' personal lives. I pretty much skimmed anything to do with Regan and her two kids! It never really felt pertinent to the unfolding events. Plus, there were too many uses of one of my personal crime novel pet peeves - the entire backstory of a character who is only there to discover a dead body and is never heard from again! There are also a couple of dream sequences, another pet peeve!
But what did work? The relationship between Serena Alvarez and Dylan O'Keefe was surprisingly well handled. They acted like adults. Too often in this genre, the female and male leads act like such juveniles you marvel at how they could ever be put in charge of a police investigation! Not so here. The identity of the killer was cleverly done, and made sense. His motive - not so much! The climax of the novel was definitely a highlight. If you can end a book on an adrenaline high, that always gets an extra star from me! Do a bit of trimming, and this could make a decent movie/TV movie - another endorsement!
Certainly not a shining example of the best the genre has to offer, due to far too much padding and repetition, but I ended up enjoying it!
hamccollom's review against another edition
4.0
I absolute love the character development and story line. As with most of Lisa Jackson's books, I am always a step behind figuring out who is behind the murders.
With each book in the series, Jackson is phenomenal at keeping the characters relevant and relatable to the readers. She uses enough description words for the reader to understand the scene, the plot, and events taking place without being too heavy handed.
With each book in the series, Jackson is phenomenal at keeping the characters relevant and relatable to the readers. She uses enough description words for the reader to understand the scene, the plot, and events taking place without being too heavy handed.
thisisabooktracker's review against another edition
Gave this book a chance even though I didn't like book 3. DNFed because Alvarez and Grayson don't end up together.
k8lynn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i enjoyed seeing more of Selena Alvarez in this one!
smc51151's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gma2lana's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable book, However, I felt that the ending was rather abrupt, as if the author ran out of time and had to finish the story. I guess it could have been a bit more detailed for me.