I did not like this book. I WILL NOT recommend it to anyone. That being said, I did listen to the whole story instead of quitting half way through.

I want to be truthful that there were things that I did like about the story. One, it kept my attention. Mainly because I'm one of those readers who is always trying to solve the crime before the characters do. There were enough potential suspects and persons of interest to make my guessing game difficult, but not so many that the story was cluttered. Two, there were surprises. There were crimes committed throughout that didn't seem to make any sense, until the entire picture came together at the end. One of those surprises being a death of someone that was not a high profile character, but the circumstances around that death were not at all what was assumed.

On to the things that I didn't like about this book. I am aware that this is a fiction book, not based on any actual event, and I'm not naive enough to think that a crime spree like this couldn't happen. I just don't happen to enjoy reading material in this genre to include children.

The primary story line is the quest for a serial killer who is murdering teenage boys. The crime scenes are gruesome detailing acts committed against these boys' bodies after they had been killed. Many of them had their navels removed. A couple had large incisions in their chest. One of the boys was sodomized. This information leads the detectives to question a man who later admits that he is a part of a group known as MABIL. An acronym for Men And Boys In Love. It is an organized group of adolescent boys who are brought together with other boys and made to feel like they are part of a group. Once the boys learn to trust the leaders, they are paired up with a man for their "first time." As if all of that isn't bad enough, there is a 12 year old boy who murders a pregnant woman for no apparent reason!

I also did not think that this book flowed well. I listened to this start to finish and didn't skip even one second of the book. Yet, there were things that would happen or pop up in the investigation that seemed like they came out of thin air. I remember thinking a couple of times that there really needed to be some sort of lead-in to an event, but it just wasn't there. Then, at the end of the story, the author threw in this "need for human contact" for one of the characters, and tried to end the story with a little romance. It just didn't fit or work for me. I'm sure that with such a horrific plot to begin with, she wanted to end on a more positive note, but with a plot this sinister, it would take much more than what was there. ( )

Totally flabbergasted by the climax which really came some way before the end of the book. I enjoy the interplay of the characters and their backgrounds - don't read them just for the crime solving but for the ongoing character development. Unfortunately one character is finished and another profoundly changed. ( )

great plotting, meaty writing, more than time-guzzling ( )

This book was much like a smelly guest who likes to hear themselves talk and NEVER leaves. It took me forever to finish this damn book. It's been on my nightstand for about two months now and I only picked it up whenever I was feeling particularly masochistic. The premise was good. The plot was excellent. However, George continues her annoying habit of giving us an entire chapter of what could have been said in two paragraphs. She completely ruined the ending for me because at that point I was merely laboring to finish the book.

The only two characters I genuinely like in this series is Havers and Nkata. I love reading about their personal lives, and probably the only reason I'll even read the latest Lynley/Havers novel is to see what happens to them next. Lynley is not even in the picture for me at this point.

Again, she could have cut this novel down by two hundred pages and all would have been well. However, I don't like feeling as if I'm slogging uphill in a mudslide when I'm reading a novel.

Painful and tedious. ( )

Her best suspense that I’ve read so far. This follows a serial murderer and I like finding out that we’ve met the murderer very early one. That always makes me want to go back and see if hints/clues were left so I could figure out the murder myself. However, the end is horrific because of who dies and the senselessness of it. Well, it isn’t senseless but when you come to love characters like the one who dies, it’s personally heartbreaking. I’m skipping the next book for now, What Came Before He Shot Her, because I’ve read that it’s rather different and doesn’t involve Lynley or Havers. Not that I don’t like different! But that’s where my interests lay at the moment. ( )