That was one mess of a novel.

The horribly mutilated body of a young woman is found in the desert around Las Vegas. The lead detective on the case, Romulus Poe, soon realizes that the victim is a known call girl who had been a one-time fling of Steve Jensen, his colleague, but as Steve seems to have slept with everyone in Vegas, he decides to keep him on the case. And for most of the novel, this is the most rational of his decisions.

Another body follows, a 25-years old unsolved murder rears its head and a powerful man seems to be somehow related. And then there is Alison - Romulus Poe's old love, now Steve Jensen's wife, who is pretty disturbed mentally. Throw in NTS (Nevada Test Site), Native American believes (Poe is part-Native American), dust storms, love stories and a lot of sex.

The story of the murders is interconnected with the slow deterioration of Alison's mind. There are some hints through the novel that there is something supernatural going on although there is also the very real possibility that it is all in Alison's head. That ambiguity is there to the very end... except that without the supernatural elements, the story does not work. And that is the main problem in the novel.

I like supernatural novels. I even like the borderline ones which can be read either way. Here it felt almost as a cheat - there was no other way for the novel to work but the author was not ready to make it a supernatural novel. Which is always annoying.

Despite a lot of questionable decisions (both personal and professional), the characters mostly work - people are messy, noone is perfect. Some elements may be a bit on the nose and even cliched but even they do not annoy too much. And where the story ends is almost satisfying (despite that last ambiguity of normal world vs. the supernatural - and even that is also explored in those last pages - the characters actually comment and explore the ambiguity).

If one expects anything close to the Decker series, they will be disappointed - this could not have been further away. Kellerman uses the standalone to play with different style and language and not to successfully at that. ( )

I wonder if Ms. Kellerman was hoping to make up for lack of a plot through the use of very foul language, poor taste and strange characters with no redeeming value? Come on, now, girlfriends who encourage their lovers to go get satisfaction from prostitutes and manage to keep smiling while doing his dirty laundry? I thought this was a detective novel, not science fiction! This was my first experience reading a Faye Kellerman novel. Unfortunately, it will probably be my last. Very disappointing. : ( ( )

a little too "out-there" for me ( )

Suspense & Thriller