xxertz's review against another edition
3.0
BLUF: Slow, but steady read. Good for those (like me) who naturally suspend their disbelief.
Meet Charlie, “Bird”. Bird is a poor excuse for a husband, but didn’t deserve the loss of his wife and his daughter to a serial killer. After the death of his family, Bird left the NYPD for freelance detective work. Well, sort of. The book starts with Bird acting as a bounty hunter to pass the time, but he is soon wrapped into a case to find a missing woman as a favor to an old PD friend.
What should be a simple case soon becomes more complicated. As the bodies start piling up around the missing woman case, Bird also has to deal with the return of his wife and daughter’s killer. Obsessively, Bird seeks to trap his family’s killers. The hunt is on.
This book starts rather gruesomely, with the detailed killings of our main character’s wife and child. A lot of people are not going to be interested in reading such details, but, for the rest of us, the morbid curiosity is all we need to get sucked into this book.
The first case is slow and not very entertaining. Bird travels to a town where nobody wants to deal with him. The case isn’t very interesting and the effort the “bad guys” put into inconveniencing Bird is bizarre and excessive. The case has an enjoyable ending and I would have felt comfortable ending the book right then.
After the first case and a call from the killer himself/herself, Bird gets renewed motivation to track down his family’s killer. Along the way, Bird finds himself dragged into gang turf wars, frozen out of the FBI’s investigation, and in the arms of a new lover. This case is more enjoyable, but not necessarily “realistic”.
This book contained little things that I felt were truly unrealistic. At one point, the police act on Bird’s tip without any real question or further proof. Quick friendships with gang leads, welcoming into the FBI investigation, even if informally, and friends who would drop anything to fly to where you are and wreak havoc is a bit.. far-fetched for me.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this book and will revisited the series at some point in the future.
Meet Charlie, “Bird”. Bird is a poor excuse for a husband, but didn’t deserve the loss of his wife and his daughter to a serial killer. After the death of his family, Bird left the NYPD for freelance detective work. Well, sort of. The book starts with Bird acting as a bounty hunter to pass the time, but he is soon wrapped into a case to find a missing woman as a favor to an old PD friend.
What should be a simple case soon becomes more complicated. As the bodies start piling up around the missing woman case, Bird also has to deal with the return of his wife and daughter’s killer. Obsessively, Bird seeks to trap his family’s killers. The hunt is on.
This book starts rather gruesomely, with the detailed killings of our main character’s wife and child. A lot of people are not going to be interested in reading such details, but, for the rest of us, the morbid curiosity is all we need to get sucked into this book.
The first case is slow and not very entertaining. Bird travels to a town where nobody wants to deal with him. The case isn’t very interesting and the effort the “bad guys” put into inconveniencing Bird is bizarre and excessive. The case has an enjoyable ending and I would have felt comfortable ending the book right then.
After the first case and a call from the killer himself/herself, Bird gets renewed motivation to track down his family’s killer. Along the way, Bird finds himself dragged into gang turf wars, frozen out of the FBI’s investigation, and in the arms of a new lover. This case is more enjoyable, but not necessarily “realistic”.
This book contained little things that I felt were truly unrealistic. At one point, the police act on Bird’s tip without any real question or further proof. Quick friendships with gang leads, welcoming into the FBI investigation, even if informally, and friends who would drop anything to fly to where you are and wreak havoc is a bit.. far-fetched for me.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this book and will revisited the series at some point in the future.
kristiana28's review
2.0
The beginning - great.
The ending - great.
The middle - never ending.
Maybe the ending was so great, because I knew it was the ending.
The way it's been written is nice and easy to follow with all the oh so many characters. Each one gets a nice introduction, no matter which part of the book you're at.
It's a great serial killer & detective book, but somehow I found it rather boring. Thus the 2 stars. Definitely not one for my. Won't continue with the series.
The ending - great.
The middle - never ending.
Maybe the ending was so great, because I knew it was the ending.
The way it's been written is nice and easy to follow with all the oh so many characters. Each one gets a nice introduction, no matter which part of the book you're at.
It's a great serial killer & detective book, but somehow I found it rather boring. Thus the 2 stars. Definitely not one for my. Won't continue with the series.
bookish_satty's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
I really liked the plot of this story but sadly there were so many characters that I couldn't keep track of who was who so it was quite a frustrating experience. I did like the ending though because I couldn't guess who the murderer was at all so it was quite a shock. I liked the main characters and would definitely read more about them. The writing was disjointed in my opinion and the flashbacks were hard to differentiate from the current events. Hope the next installment will be more polished.
P.S. - The audio narration was good and easy to follow.
P.S. - The audio narration was good and easy to follow.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
2.0
You can only endure so many gruesome murders and mutilations until boredom sets in. I lost track of the characters, dead and living, after a few hundred pages, and didn't much care.
averymiller's review
2.0
First third of this was very interesting and then they just seemed to need to add more and more nothing. I will not be reading the sequels.
blackrose99's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
octavietullier's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
2,5 stars
gabitheaustrian's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
hpstrangelove's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this audiobook but it was a bit difficult to get through. I like the narrator until he tries to do the female characters - he does them is such a horrible voice that I just cringe. This book, he's also tried to read some of the male characters with accents too - it's just irritating.
I might have liked this book better if I'd read a hard copy instead of listening to the audiobook, but I simply don't have enough 'life' left to read all the books I want to read. I have to settle for audiobooks which can be 'read' while doing other things, like housework, making coffee, driving, etc.
I also felt like I was reading two books here. There's the initial investigation that takes part in the first half of the book and is resolved, then the second half of the book continues with the MC's backstory...just seemed somewhat disconnected.
I might have liked this book better if I'd read a hard copy instead of listening to the audiobook, but I simply don't have enough 'life' left to read all the books I want to read. I have to settle for audiobooks which can be 'read' while doing other things, like housework, making coffee, driving, etc.
I also felt like I was reading two books here. There's the initial investigation that takes part in the first half of the book and is resolved, then the second half of the book continues with the MC's backstory...just seemed somewhat disconnected.