Frank Quinn and his team are back in action and boy are they better than ever!

This time they are hunting a killer who loves gadgets and thinks he can outwit anyone but especially Quinn and his team. Each murder is different and has elements that make no sense. Frank knows if he can just figure out the puzzle then he can catch this madman.

John Lutz always writes a fantastic thriller and I have never once been disappointed in one of his books. His characters whether good or bad are rich and full, never leaving me wanting. If I know someone is in the market for a good thriller I will always steer them toward John Lutz

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions—all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he's also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer...

*2.5 stars*

This was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. While I haven't read ALL of the previous books in this series, I had read a few and had a certain expectation going into this one. And it just didn't get there...

I think the best part of the story was the interactions between the characters. You can tell they had spent some time together throughout the series and that was clearly evident on the page. It was easy to get comfortable with them and feel part of their story.

However, the things that disappointed me most were the dual storylines and time-frames - why did we spend so much time in Jordan's backstory when there was a perfectly good "current" story to tell? How was the name "The Gremlin" ever going to invoke any kind of fear in the reader? It was a bit of a nothing name and felt undeserving of what the bad dude was up to. Finally, did he ever sleep? There was so many things going on around the city, I wonder if he ever rested. It felt like just too much to be completely believable so that kind of detracted from the story as well...

This could have been a really good thriller novel but, for me, it lost its way and never full recovered.


Paul
ARH