Review: Good series start
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2013
Okay, so the price is what first caught my attention....  Then the fact that this is the first in the series clinched it.  If I could give this 3 1/2 stars, I would, but 4 is okay with a couple of reservations.  First the good.  The mystery is quite compelling with a count-down beginning with the deaths of two policemen.  Each successive death is carried out with a different method, confusing the police and reader.  The various suspects make perfect sense along the way, and the tension builds quite nicely.  I had a sneaking suspicion regarding the eventual culprit, so I was close to the "who" but not the "why."  The latter was most believable.  So, a satisfying end.  My biggest reservation about this book is the drawing of the main character, Ian Drake, DI.  The author goes to such lengths describing his OCD that the character becomes one-dimensional.  Drake's rituals are repeated ad nauseum, enough already!  And the many references to slicing and dicing sudoku completely went over my head.  Since it appears that Drake will agree to counseling in the next book, maybe that aspect of his character is minimized in the second offering.  We can hope.  The other problem is also with Drake.  He describes himself as graying with bags under his eyes, spreading waistline (attractive, huh?) and years of police service.  But he has children 5 and 7 years old, giving you the idea he's much younger.  I would like a better mental picture of him next time out, and I will try the next in the series.