A Thin Dark Line (1997)

A lovely suspense story. Read the book in one night. It was fun to read and I would read it again. ( )

Spoilers ahoy!
This was a very long book. Too long, I think. Although it did keep moving, the action was trivial and not fully explained afterwards. I mean the “practical jokes” played on Broussard. The snake in her car, the skinned animal in her locker room and the pig intestines draped on her porch were interesting, but there were too many of them and the perpetrator was never revealed. Because she busted Forcade for trying to kill the now free accused murder, her fellow cops hate her even more (than for just being female) and it could have been them. And because the killer had left grisly remains at his victim’s home, it could have been him.

I thought it was the assistant DA & Broussards ex-boyfriend but it turned out to be the mother of the guy who went free. In the end, he was killed though by the father of the last victim. Now the father ends up on trial. I didn’t figure for the mother at all. Not with the rapes that started up when the suspected killer went free. That plot element did its job. It made me think of only male suspects since I reasoned the crimes had to be related. I never seriously considered the husband of the dead woman. He had less to gain by her death – she was more valuable to him alive.

http://olvasonaplo.freeblog.hu/archives/2005/04/09/Tami_Hoag_A_Think_dark_line/ ( )

This one was just OK. I don't know if it was the Cajun dialect or the slightly over-complicated plot line, but I didn't feel connected to the story or the plot. It would probably have only been 2 stars, but I gave it an extra half for a solid ending. ( )

Very readable, once you get past the first few pages, and it drags you in with very little effort and had me guessing right to the end. Good read. ( )