Review: Creative psychological thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 16, 2009
This is not the typical police story.  There is no page per minute action with fast-paced plot twists.  Rather this is an introspective poetic examination of an ex-alcoholic, ex-police woman, Andrea.  How easy would it be to like someone like her, with her lack of judgement, and self-mutilation habits?  Can someone this bizarre be appealing? Yet, by the end of the story... you will be on her side.  Andrea is now on a mission, selected by a secret police force, to rid the world of a serial killer, Clive, who had picked her up at a bar and had tried to kill her, only to later escape from maximum security prison.  She goes to Louisiana, posing as the killer's fiancee, and meets his modern day Adams family.  There, she waits, expecting him to turn up, so she can kill him.  We can even grow to understand these folks.  Good, evil and shades in between are mixed with the flavors of the South as Andrea lives with them and discovers their secrets.  Abrupt moments of extreme violence are balanced by Andrea's increasing attachment to the young girl in the family, also a victim of child abuse like herself.  I read this in a measured way, intrigued by the psychological drama and the sense of place.  The action-packed ending was not unexpected, and was a shocking contrast to the prior dreamy explorations.  Overall a solid good read, but the Kindle formatting looked as if it were done by chimps randomly hitting the return key :).  Hope it is fixed soon.  Would read the next book by the author.