I enjoyed this book, a while ago when i read it however. ( )

Melanie May is a small-town cop with dreams of being bigger, and Connor Parks is an FBI profiler on his way down. They meet investigating the case of a local golden girl, and form a mutual respect. When Melanie discovers a fatal rash of apparent accidents happening to local men, she notices that all of them were abusers and batterers. Connor is the only one who believes her theory that they might have a serial killer on the loose.
This book read like an extended, more intimate and detailed episode of "Criminal Minds." That is a compliment. What I was struck most by while reading this book was the authenticity of it. Spindler's characters are extremely real, even her heroine. Many mystery/thriller novels feature a protagonist who is so perfect and brilliant that they don't seem like real people. Even when they are 'flawed,' their flaws make them a better cop/prosecutor/investigator. Melanie's flaws actually impede her investigation at times, which is how things would be in real life. Also, in other novels, every lead pans out, every suspect talks, and every hunch is right. I understand that these are conventions to move the plot along, but the investigation in Spindler's novel takes months, almost a year, and while some parts of the book are almost a 'montage,' we are treated to a lot of the fits and starts of the reality of investigating a crime like this. Of course, all the plot points have to come to a cohesive conclusion at the end, but Spindler's conclusion does not feel hasty or forced, rather it's exhilarating. While I had figured out who the Dark Angel was by page 300, I was also surprised by a lot of the information revealed at the end. Also, I read this more than 500 page novel in less than two days. It was quite the page turner, but not one of those where the chapters are like a paragraph and most of the pages are blank space between chapters, so you feel like the whole thing could have been condensed into 120 pages had not there been a 'cliffhanger' after each paragraph.
Another added bonus is the benefit of the story being told from many different perspectives, not just the main character and the killer. Melanie's sisters and other officers involved have chapters where we learn about their thoughts and motivations. Sometimes this is hard to keep track of or feels disjointed, but this author manages it quite smoothly. I recommend this book quite highly. ( )

One of her best. Great twist! ( )

Loaned from Debbie