Trail of Blood

I liked this book. The mystery surrounding the killings was nice. the way that Theresa's mind works and the way she looks at a case is impressive. She is not easily shoken up by anything. This I liked. She made for a strong female lead. Yet despite the strong presense of Theresa and the grusome killings of the Torso Killer, which were not really that gory, I found the story just alright. I was only after I had gotten almost all the way done and had a third of the story left that I was like what just happened? The killer had been idenified but I could not remember the clues pointing to him and then the ending did not finish strongly. The whole time the story again was fine but then when it came to the ending it seemed to just be rushed show more and over quickly. show less

Part true crime and part fiction, this book was drew from two genres that I generally enjoy.

The true crime part came in as the author drew from the Torso Killer crimes that took place largely in the Cleveland area in the 1930s. The serial killer was never caught, and the killings took place amidst a backdrop of police corruption.

In modern times, our protagonist Theresa MacLean, a forensic scientist, gets called to a crime scene in which she examines a decapitated body. The police officers at the scene immediately tell her that the scene is reminiscent of the Torso Killer's works. While MacLean retains a more open mind, she soon concludes that not only does the scene have much in common with a Torso Killer's scene, but it may actually be show more the work of the Torso Killer.

Soon, other killings start happening around Cleveland, and MacLean intuits that either a copycat is at work or the Torso Killer is very old and is reliving his greatest hits.

The narrative flips back and forth in time between MacLean's investigation and the original investigation.

The plot was interesting, I found MacLean's character compelling, and the pacing was fine. However, for reasons I could never quite put my finger on, it took me about 2-3 times longer than usual to get through a book this length. show less

I enjoyed the way Lisa Black wrote this book. The transition between the 1930's case and the present day case was written well. Although I had an idea who the guilty person was early on in the book, it was challenging to put all the pieces together to "make a case" against that person. It is fascinating that part of the book was based on a real case. I am interested in using the bibliography information in the back of the book to research the case more.

Thersa MacLean, forensic scientist tracks the trail of modern serial killer repeating the acts of one some 75 years ago. How are they related? Can they save the next victim? Known as the Torso Killer, Cleveland Ohio again faces murder of a strange kind.
Good read.

I'm still reading this book but it seems like I've been reading it forever. It's such a slow read, I don't know if I'm going to finish it. It's a good story but unlike the other reviews, I feel there's something wrong here but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it's because it doesn't flow for me. I like the story but I'm just not engaged.

Murder