Disappointing. I'd read good things about it, but the characters are poorly developed and the writing is nothing special.

Although the words graphic and gruesome spring to mind after finishing this book, it was nevertheless a gripping read which I simply couldn't put down. The story begins in a house just off the Fulham Road. A man has been brutally murdered - he is found hanging from his stairs with his tongue cut out and a silver spoon in his mouth. Red Metcalfe is at the scene, observing the gruesome sight, without realising that not far away, in Wandsworth, another man lay dead.

This is the start of an investigation which lasts months, is littered with bodies and sends Metcalf and his team on numerous false paths. There is little hard evidence to go on - the killer is both clever and calculating. The result is that Red and the team become more and more frustrated as they are left to their instincts and wits to try and figure it out before the killer takes another life. As the story unfolds, Starling intersperses the action happening at the time (the book is set just before the turn of the Millennium) with Metcalfe's unhappy past history, using the horrific events with his brother to help the reader to understand Red's own personality.

The pace of the book gathers with each page, heading towards a breathtaking conclusion. Although I 'worked it out' before the author revealed the answers, it didn't detract from the cleverness of the plot and the intricate scheme around which it had been built. Clues are delivered everywhere, and it is only at the end that the entire story really pulls together and everything becomes clear. This is certainly not a book for the faint hearted, as the descriptions are particularly graphic, but it shows a mastery of storyline and an ability to keep you turning the page. A must read for crime lovers. ( )

I found this book disappointing. From the moment the hit and run was narrated, I knew more or less how this book was going to end. The killings were horrific, but they lacked the sordidness and banality that seem to characterize every true crime serial killing I have read about. They were way too artificial. The hint in Tess Gerritsen's The Body Double about nomadic killings and dumping ground was more chilling than anything in this book. The human relationships in the book are not compelling. This may be my first and last Boris Starling. ( )