Review: Blindsided by the ending, this is personal, and it's deceptive
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2013
This novel starts at a hair raising pace, immediately sucking you into drama. This is an intense beginning which appeals to your humanity in every way. What Annabelle goes through makes you want this killer found, incarcerated, and preferably with a lethal injection for good measure.The frenetic pace then eases off into police procedure, particularly the detective involved from the very beginning, David Krein. There are many cameo characters in this book but the only life you really get to see is David's. He's definitely the main character even though the beginning gives you no head's up on that.Case after case appears, this is a serial killer they're hunting and he's not just a psychopath but he's devout. He's hearing God, and God wants him to recreate past murder scenes where the killer was never caught. It's a winning recipe for someone who is delusional enough to think good research guarantees getting away with murder scot free. Not to mention who can question a command from God? This is destiny.There are many scenic routes taken where Krein's issues with his higher ranking officer and his endless shallow need for attention bars progress in catching this dreaded killer. Krein's life is destroyed in his hunt for the KopyKat killer following lead after lead while his personal life falls into ruin. When his rebellious teenage daughter decides to run away from home right into serial killer hunting ground the case becomes intensely personal.I'm going to be blunt, as a crime reader I found at times the pace was a little slow for me and I really would have enjoyed a ton more sensory overload in the killings. However, what this novel lacked in my personal preferences it made up for in the final chapters. That insane urgency was back, the plot unfolding was dramatic, and the twist at the end you could never ever guess.I agree with one other reviewer who said the ending could have given us a bit more detail on the serial killer and his background. But overall this was an excellent crime novel for those who love the chase, plenty of victims, and police procedure.I also found the psychologist's involvement credible, and the mental diagnoses of the patient was fascinating. Overall I give it 4.8 stars, rounding it up to 5. I was interrupted a number of times reading this novel yet I found getting back into it was no problem. That's a sign of a good plot ;) The observations on human pack mentality were acutely accurate. We're a repulsive and bloodthirsty species.