ciska's review against another edition
3.0
I am not really sure how this book came to my shelves. I probably picked it up at a little library at some point. The cover intrigued me though.
There are a lot of things happening in this book. When Vining returns to her job after an horrible attack it is clear she is traumatized which plays a big part in the story. But there is a fresh murder too. There is not much of a puzzle as we get introduced to the killer soon enough. The excitement of this book is more in the part if the police can solve this puzzle before the killer makes another victim. I really enjoyed that part of the book. I disliked the high corruption level with the police people in this book. Made me wonder if there is even one clean cop out there.
It is easy to feel for Nan as a character though she is not the easiest to connect with. I did not understand why her coworkers made the decisions they did either. I do hope when something like that would happen to me someone would protect me. Her character keeps close to the trauma and anger, it is not much evolved. I found Pussycat an interesting character. Her problem and the way she was dealing with it. The way she looked at the whole situation made for some interesting chapters.
There are a lot of things happening in this book. When Vining returns to her job after an horrible attack it is clear she is traumatized which plays a big part in the story. But there is a fresh murder too. There is not much of a puzzle as we get introduced to the killer soon enough. The excitement of this book is more in the part if the police can solve this puzzle before the killer makes another victim. I really enjoyed that part of the book. I disliked the high corruption level with the police people in this book. Made me wonder if there is even one clean cop out there.
It is easy to feel for Nan as a character though she is not the easiest to connect with. I did not understand why her coworkers made the decisions they did either. I do hope when something like that would happen to me someone would protect me. Her character keeps close to the trauma and anger, it is not much evolved. I found Pussycat an interesting character. Her problem and the way she was dealing with it. The way she looked at the whole situation made for some interesting chapters.
jlynnelseauthor's review against another edition
2.0
I like the concept of a female officer haunted, literally, by the murdered woman of a case she's working. I thought there were some very spooky and electrifying moments for the main character. The main character, Nan Vining, was nearly killed in the line of duty, and since then, has had an otherworldly connection. I found some good moments.
However, the main character is constantly working alone. There are few relationships to help reveal different sides of Officer Vining. The different characters in the Pasadena PD are not memorable, and I found it hard to keep them straight.
This book is also extremely serious. There is no kidding around or funny scenes. I think a few jokes are attempted, but they are dry.
The book follows both Officer Vining as well as the murderer, who is consistently sexually abusing women. Its not a fun thing to read. The two points of view did not work for me. I think Emley should have kept with Vining's point of view. It would have helped developed the other side characters.
The backstory reveals were disjointed dumps of info. The flow between past and present was not always clear. So sometimes I had to backtrack and re-read sections to figure out where I was within the timeline.
Overall I think this series will develop with character personalities filling out and relationships solidifying. There were hints at uncovering Officer Vining's attacker in between the murder investigation. I liked that the story was not so narrow a focus. However, at times the execution did not work for me. I also was not connected to the characters within the story.
I think the supernatural moments were not as strong a plot driver as they should have been. Because if Officer Vining is going to have this ability, make it useful. Otherwise, its just white noise.
However, the main character is constantly working alone. There are few relationships to help reveal different sides of Officer Vining. The different characters in the Pasadena PD are not memorable, and I found it hard to keep them straight.
This book is also extremely serious. There is no kidding around or funny scenes. I think a few jokes are attempted, but they are dry.
The book follows both Officer Vining as well as the murderer, who is consistently sexually abusing women. Its not a fun thing to read. The two points of view did not work for me. I think Emley should have kept with Vining's point of view. It would have helped developed the other side characters.
The backstory reveals were disjointed dumps of info. The flow between past and present was not always clear. So sometimes I had to backtrack and re-read sections to figure out where I was within the timeline.
Overall I think this series will develop with character personalities filling out and relationships solidifying. There were hints at uncovering Officer Vining's attacker in between the murder investigation. I liked that the story was not so narrow a focus. However, at times the execution did not work for me. I also was not connected to the characters within the story.
I think the supernatural moments were not as strong a plot driver as they should have been. Because if Officer Vining is going to have this ability, make it useful. Otherwise, its just white noise.
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