Find the Author: Website, Goodreads, AmazonIn this thrilling chapter in Faye Kellerman’s bestselling series, Rina Lazarus makes a shocking discovery in the woods of her upstate New York community that leads her husband, police detective Peter Decker, through a series of gruesome, decades old, unsolved murders, pointing to a diabolical, serial killer who’s been hiding in plain sight.On a bright and crisp September morning, while walking a bucolic woodland trail, Rina Decker stumbles upon human remains once buried deep beneath the forest grounds. Immediately, she calls her husband, Peter, a former detective lieutenant with LAPD, now working for the local Greenbury Police. Within hours, a vista of beauty and tranquility is transformed into a frenetic crime scene. The body has been interred for years and there is scant physical evidence at the gravesite: a youthful skeleton, a skull wound and long dark strands of hair surrounding the bony frame. As Decker and his partner, Tyler McAdams, further investigate, they realize that they’re most likely dealing with a missing student from the nearby Five Colleges of Upstate—a well-known and well-respected consortium of higher learning where Rina works.And when more human remains are found in the same area, Decker and McAdams know this isn’t just a one-off murder case. Short-staffed and with no convenient entry into the colleges, Decker enlists Rina’s help to act as the eyes and ears of campus gossip. Winding their way through a dangerous labyrinth of steely suspects and untouchable academics, Decker, McAdams, and Rina race to protect their community from a psychopathic killer still in the area—and on the hunt for a fresh victim.
Before I get into the review, I want it to be known that this book deals with death of Transgendered and LBGTQ individuals. It isn’t graphic, but it is present.
I was at the VA with my husband for his appointment and they have two bookcases full of books. On one of the shelves was a book that looked interesting. I guess I thought it would be like the Patricia Cornwall and Kathy Reichs books that I read and like. It was both like those books and not like those books at the same time.
In a sense it was because it dealt with death and the detective process behind finding the killer(s). Since it does focus more on the police aspect and the personal aspect of the main character and his wife, it is slightly different.
Rina Lazarus and her detective husband Peter Decker literally stumble onto this case that leads them all on what some may call a wild goose chase.
Both Rina and her husband are Jewish and so that plays a really important part of this story. The author did really well in getting details correct about Jewish holidays and other events that take place that may seem strange to outsiders. I appreciated that fact of this book.
Overall this book is long, I mean it is 415 pages, and there are times that it could have been a bit quicker paced. There are places that have a lot of conversation between Rina and Peter that don’t necessarily need to be there. It doesn’t take away from the story, but it doesn’t add to the story.
I also think that at times it slow plays the plot by adding in things that aren’t necessary. Again it doesn’t take away per se but it doesn’t add to it. I have an issue with that specifically because I am a big believer in only adding what is necessary. So when there are extra words, extra pages, and sometimes extra chapters it makes it almost tedious in reading it.
Overall the entire story was interesting and I may read another one from this author. But I will not go out of my way to seek this author out. Especially if all of the books are this long and in-depth in nature.
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About Faye Kellerman
Faye Kellerman is the author of twenty-six novels, including nineteen New York Times bestselling mysteries that feature the husband-and-wife team of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. She has also penned two best selling short novels with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, and recently has teamed up with her daughter, Aliza, to co-write a teen novel, entitled PRISM. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
