Immoral

Una storia bella e ben scritta, con un detective un po' maltrattato dalla vita, angosciato da un caso che coingolve adolescenti sparite.
Un bel thriller teso, non scontato nella descrizione dei personaggi e con una graditissima conclusione a sorpresa.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride and sidekick Maggie are hunting for the murderer of a sexually charged teenage girl, but all is not as it seems and the hunt leads all the way to Las Vegas.

For me this was a strange journey as all the books that I have read recently tend to have spanned hours, days or weeks and this book spanned years. Because of this I found the depth of characters to be somewhat lacking but the story overall I found quite compelling and was always looking to see what new twist would happen next. I did find the ending stretched my imagination a little, but even so it didn't detract from the book as a whole. It also seemed a little strange to have important characters appear half way through the book, although having found show more out this book is the first in the series it starts to make more sense.

I would recommend this for all crime & thriller fans as it's a book that does have you coming back for more.

Review here: http://bookannelid.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/immoral-by-brian-freeman/ show less

"Immoral," first published in 2005 by the Minotaur imprint of St. Martin’s Press, was Brian Freeman’s first novel, though that barely shows in a rough edge or two. The mystery is so intriguing, with so many unexpected turns, that it overshadows anything else.

The puzzle set for the detectives in this story is apparently simple: Jonathan Stride and his partner Maggie Bei try to discover what happened to Rachel, the second girl to disappear from the same Duluth, Minnesota high school in the past year. But the simplicity of that quest is deceptive.

The past year has been a rough one for Stride. He’s lost his beloved wife to cancer, had to come to an understanding with Maggie, who tried to comfort him in an inappropriate way, and still show more hasn’t resolved the disappearance of Kerry the first high school girl, before Rachel also disappears. And the press is constantly breathing down his neck.

It’s almost certain that Rachel has been murdered; all the circumstantial evidence suggests this, despite the lack of a body. But however strong the evidence, it seems to alter its shape and dissipate like smoke as they finally bring a suspect to trial - until the trial itself comes to an end that shocks prosecution and defence alike.

Freeman draws his characters well. Stride flounders convincingly through the upheavals of his personal life, yet perseveres with the help of Maggie and Serena Dial, a Las Vegas cop who eventually gets drawn into the case. Even the missing Rachel is portrayed in considerable depth, as both a sexually irresistible girl and a thoroughly despicable person. But the real gem is defence attorney Archibald Gale, who can do wonders with a couple of innocent-seeming questions and a little innuendo, not to mention a keen eye for facts.

The last third of the book is where things get just a bit choppy, even though the plot pretty much requires it to be structured as it is. A certain gap in the time flow leaves the reader feeling a bit of a disconnect due to the slight shifting of the relationships of the characters while we were “away.” We’re never given a really plausible reason why Rachel was the way she was. And the second last twist in the story seems just a little too…handy, especially for the resolution of Stride’s own relationship issues, even though it’s technically plausible. Yet the very last development, resulting in the solving of the final mystery, is cleverly done, and wraps things up very satisfactorily indeed.

Brian Freeman is one of those suspense writers who started as something else first: in his case, as a marketing executive and business writer, leading an award-winning communications and marketing program at the international law firm of Faegre & Benson. (It could almost make you wonder just how buttoned-down his job was, that he finally broke out of it to write suspense novels — except that he’s been writing them for himself, honing his craft, since he was in grade six!) "Immoral" won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel, and was also a finalist for the Edgar, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry Awards. Not too shabby, eh, for one’s first novel?

I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately grabbed two of the next three volumes in Freeman’s ongoing chronicle of Jonathan Stride’s cases. I can’t wait to finish them — and I hope they’re followed by many more. show less

In this secretive debut novel from Brian Freeman the mysterious tale of two teenagers who disappear over a year apart is unraveled by Duluth detective Jonathon Stride. The characterizations of the various players are well written and create vivid and real to life characters.
The mystery itself is filled with easy answers that seem to easy and big questions that linger through the book to its satisfying climax. The most engaging portions of the book are the flashbacks seen through the eyes of main characters which reveal answers to the mystery that, like any good mystery, seem incredibly simple once the vale of mystery is lifted.
All in all the book overplayed the melodrama a bit but the way Freeman creates such intriguing characters and show more slowly untangles the mystery make the sometimes over complicated story worth the ride. (89/100) show less

This had its moments (I enjoyed Maggie and Serena's bonding scene towards the end), but it went on too long, to the point where I stopped caring what had happened to Rachel, who was an unlikeable character anyway. The conclusion was implausible and indeed immoral. The attitude to women felt dated and off.

Jonathan Stride, a veteran detective in the rural town of Duluth, Minnesota, is still mourning his late wife, Cindy's death when Rachel, a teenager, goes missing. Assisted by his quirky partner, Maggie, an investigation into a girl's disappearance convinces Stride she was murdered. There's a trial and another murder; then the book really gets interesting. I was glued to every page while Mr. Freeman brought plot twist after plot twist. I understand Immoral is Mr. Freeman's debut novel. I have read all of the Easton Frost books and loved them. This book is written in the same style. It's very suspenseful and is filled with many interesting characters. I'm glad I discovered this series!

Tengo que reconocer que la historia esta bastante bien , es entretenida y para ser honesta tiene un argumento original y con algunos giros de historia bastante interesantes y además bien manejados, Stride como protagonista me ha gustado mucho, lo cierto es que no es el típico policía de este género que vemos en todas partes y eso ha sido refrescante.

Se lee muy fácil y a pesar de la historia tan escabrosa, resulta en algo entretenido.

Sin embargo, me faltó algo y no logro decidir que fue, no me ha sorprendido como lo habría esperado, no digo que tenga una historia predecible, pero si lo fue para mi, a mitad del libro ya me imaginaba cual sería el desenlace y no me equivoque, tampoco es que me gustara mucho el final, de ahí mi show more valoración al libro.

Pero para ser el primer libro de serie, opera prima del autor y el género del que se trata, lo cierto es que esta bastante bien. show less