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booksmy's review
4.0
Good. Not quite as good as The Professionals - the main bad guy was not as sympathetic as in the first book, and his spiral down seemed a bit far fetched, but a good story. I don't understand the "relationship" between the two officers. He is happily married and seems to want to remain so, she is single and doesn't seem to be hitting on them. They either need to be partnered (as law enforcement) or not, but the romantic angle doesn't work for me.
But a good story, a good book. Hard to put down once it got going.
But a good story, a good book. Hard to put down once it got going.
ewitkows's review
3.0
The second book of the Stevens and Windermere series delivers a fast paced thriller that will appeal to fans of Lee Child, David Baldacci and Michael Connelly.
Following the success of their previous collaboration, FBI Agent Carla Windermere and Minnesota State Investigator Kirk Stevens have drifted apart. Windermere starts investigating a series of bank robberies and she is certain that Carter Tomlin is the perp but no one will listen to her and believe her hunch. When it turns out that Tomlin is part of Stevens' social circle, the two team up again to figure out how Tomlin is involved as the violence escalates.
Following the success of their previous collaboration, FBI Agent Carla Windermere and Minnesota State Investigator Kirk Stevens have drifted apart. Windermere starts investigating a series of bank robberies and she is certain that Carter Tomlin is the perp but no one will listen to her and believe her hunch. When it turns out that Tomlin is part of Stevens' social circle, the two team up again to figure out how Tomlin is involved as the violence escalates.
beastreader's review
3.0
So I got this book a long time ago. I never picked it up and kind of forgot about it. Recently, I was going through my shelves on something to read and decided that I would try to make a little dent in my TBR pile. I say "little" as it will take me a long time to make a "big" dent. I would need about a year off from work to do this. Not kidding.
I picked up this book and started reading it. I did finish it in one day. It moved fairly quickly and had plenty of good dialect and action to keep the story moving and not getting stale. However, I found that Kirk kind of faded in the background for me. In fact if someone asked me to describe him, I would say "boring". Not true for Carter and especially, Carla. Carter was the bad guy that you loved to hate. I could forgive him even in the beginning for robbing the banks as he was doing it for his family. Yet as he got more bold, he turned into a jerk. Carla on the other hand was very smart and quick on her feet. She I thought, blew all the guys out of the water with her performance.
I picked up this book and started reading it. I did finish it in one day. It moved fairly quickly and had plenty of good dialect and action to keep the story moving and not getting stale. However, I found that Kirk kind of faded in the background for me. In fact if someone asked me to describe him, I would say "boring". Not true for Carter and especially, Carla. Carter was the bad guy that you loved to hate. I could forgive him even in the beginning for robbing the banks as he was doing it for his family. Yet as he got more bold, he turned into a jerk. Carla on the other hand was very smart and quick on her feet. She I thought, blew all the guys out of the water with her performance.
emckeon1002's review
4.0
I read this faster than I did The Professionals. The criminal is much less sympathetic, so it's easier to root for his comeuppance. I will say this story, moreso than The Professionals, followed the "action novel" and film script dictum of increasing the intensity of the threat as the story proceeds, which made it less satisfying as a novel, but simultaneously, impossible to put down. Good story. Solid writer. I look forward to more.
jshel10's review
4.0
I really enjoyed The Professionals - one of the best books I read last year - and I really enjoyed this one, too. Really like Windermere and Stevens, though not sure where there relationship is headed. The plot felt a bit less complicated than in The Professionals and a bit more predictable, but Laukkanen does a good job overcoming that with strong characterizations and some good dialogue. Stevens has the potential to be one of the most interesting characters in contemporary crime fictions and I'm anxious to see how Laukkanen develops him further. Highly recommended.
mojoshivers's review
5.0
This was a standout installment. Most books try to humanize their villains, try to make the audience understand the motivations behind their devious actions. This book took the opposite approach. It started out with Carter Tomlin—accountant, devoted family man, upstanding citizen—robbing banks after being laid off. But then it gave him a niggling bloodlust that grows with every successful heist. It festers slowly at first but eventually bursts forth until Tomlin is a bloody psychopath going on a rampage through a throng of people.
You can literally witness grow less human page by page, depraved murder after murder, and it’s fascinating to watch.
As always Stevens and Windermere make great heroes and are interesting instruments to stir the action, but the real stars of this series so far are its fascinating bad guys.
You can literally witness grow less human page by page, depraved murder after murder, and it’s fascinating to watch.
As always Stevens and Windermere make great heroes and are interesting instruments to stir the action, but the real stars of this series so far are its fascinating bad guys.
taffy_sea's review
4.0
I couldn't put it down. It was a compulsive read, convincingly set in the Twin Cities, and the downward spiral of bank robber/accountant Carter Tomlin was fascinating to read.