Leichenblässe (original 2009; edition 2010)

This was my third Beckett and as the two beforehand I enjoyed the reading very much. It is fast-paced and enthralling and kept me guessing until the very last page who is the evil one. David Hunter has left his British ground to join his friend in Tennessee. This trip should help him to recover and to pick up his courage for his work back in England. Although he was forced to vault his shadow his inquisitiveness to help solving the case was much bigger. He's got strength to help others and has found back his gut instinct on which he always can rely. ( )

Leichenblässe der dritte. Diesmal Ermittlungen in Tennessee - ein Brite in Amerika. Ein Täter der seine Leichen vorsätzliche verwesen lässt. Man weiss allerdings der "wahre" Täter entpuppt sich erst am Ende. Also wurden alle Unverdächtigen generalverdächtigt. Ein richtiges Rätselraten bei schneller Lektüre, ich hatte auf das falsche PFerd gesetzt - und war am Ende dann baff.
Im Mittelpunkt stand Hunter mit seinen aus dem letzten Fall entstandenen Gebrechen und Befindlichkeiten, die Forensik fand nur am Rande statt. Fand ich aber nicht schlimm.
( )

The third book in the David Hunter series and not quite up to the standard of the first two in my opinion. This time Hunter is on a working visit to a Tennessee "Body Farm" research facility when a serial killer strikes and he becomes embroiled in the investigation and subsequent autopsies. Like the other Hunter books not one for the squeamish. ( )

Easy reading. Mittelmäßig ohne Hänger aber auch ohne richtige Spannung. ( )

There are several things to like about the third book in the Dr. David Hunter series. The plot is very interesting and the tension runs high, particularly toward the end. You become involved and begin to feel that you "see where this is going". And sometimes you are right on and sometimes the story takes an unanticipated 90 degree turn. I was particularly looking forward to this book because the author chose to end the previous book with a cliffhanger. Throughout the first quarter of Whispers of the Dead then we are given bits and pieces to explain what happened subsequently. A well done for that whole treatment and a scratch of the head as to why more series authors don't occasionally employ a similar device - too campy? Not if it's done well, and (duh !) you are writing a series, afterall. Anyway, the only disappoinment I had with this book was the characters, big time. A key female is characterized in a very cliched way. Hunter, a Brit, is in the US on training/sabattical at a research facility in the Knoxville area and a number of local characters treat our somewhat wimpy hero in a very un-American, unwelcoming, grumpy fashion. And it went on and on throughout the book - it became annoying and distracting because it is not an accurate portrayal of a typical American reaction to a visitor, particularly a foreign one, whether it's at Disneyland or a crime scene. Disappointing, took a lot away from the book for me. ( )