Crime, Suspense, Thriller
When a high-society call girl is murdered in her Georgetown home, investigators find two cameras hidden in the walls of her bedroom. One has its memory erased, presumably by the murderer. The second is connected to the Internet through an encrypted connection...and no-one knows who's on the other end.
Special Agent Allison McNeil is asked by beleaguered FBI Director Clarence Mason to run an off-the-record investigation of the murder because of the murder's similarity to a case she worked a year earlier. Allison knows the most direct path to apprehending the killer is to find the videos, but the rumors that the victim's client list may have included Mason's political enemies has her worried about the director's motives. As she starts her investigation, she quickly discovers that she's not the only one pursuing the videos. In fact, the most aggressive person racing against her might be the murderer himself.
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
I read A LOT of books, across many genres, and once in a while you get a book that is out of your usual zone, and totally blows you away.
This is such a book!
The book takes a while to get going, to set the plot out with all the characters doing their thing. ALL the major players have their say, including the bad guys and yes, that is a PLURAL and yes, you know how happy that makes me feel! I misjudged who the real bad guy was, so we ended up with several bad guys, and I loved that.
It's dark, it's bloody, it's far far the most bloodiest book I've read in some time. The bad guys doing their thing? we don't get it all, not at once. Some comes as it happens, but some also comes as said bad guys recall how they came to be in that point in time. Old history, as well as more recent.
I LOVED Allison, right from the start. She has history, bad history, but she isn't letting a rape and a kidnap/torture at the hands of the last killer she caught hold her back. Shooting the colleague in the leg might cost her the job she loves, but she didn't kill him, and she saved the girl! We don't get hardly any of the rape, and none of the kidnap, she's keeping those things close to her chest and not divulging them. I liked we did not get it, I really did.
There is NO romance in this book. I think what surprised me the most, since most of the books I read ARE romance in some way, is that I LOVED that there wasn't! This book does not need it, and I think it may well have spoilt it. Allison does reminisce about a love that could have been, but that's all. There was no place for anything else. I just needed to state that!
I'd like to read something else by this author. I love the was he lays things out, long-ass style. Doesn't always work, but this author pulled it off in a stunning way.
I wrote 4.5 stars at the top of the page when I wrote this out ready for typing up (yes, I DO hand write them first!) and usually that's what I run with. But upon typing up, I can't find a single reason to knock that half star off. So....
5 stars.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Jeff Gunhus is the USA TODAY bestselling author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books are available in several languages, been Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists, and reached the USA TODAY bestseller list. After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.