Twisted

Ulysses Grove #2

by Jay Bonansinga

In the heart of New Orleans, a serial killer is at work. While the city struggles to rebuild, he seeks only to destroy. His victims are offerings, surrounded by objects as mysterious as the French Quarter itself. For Special Agent Ulysses Grove the case is personal. The latest victim, a respected Tulane professor, was also a dear friend whose death holds startling clues to this madness. As Grove and journalist Maura County pore through cold cases and the dead man's half-destroyed notes, a terrifying truth begins to unfold: a Mayan expedition gone wrong, an ancient civilization, ritual human sacrifices, and a serial killer who has tapped the secrets of indestructible power. Now, as storm season threatens the Gulf coast, Grove is on the hunt for a twisted psychopath with a deep connection to his own past--one who sees Grove as the ultimate trophy.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Paranormal

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

The national best-selling author of ten acclaimed books – both fiction and non-fiction -- Jay Bonansinga has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers” by the Chicago Tribune.

Jay is the holder of a master's degree in film from Columbia College Chicago, and currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. He is also a visiting professor at Northwestern University in their Creative Writing for the Media program.

Reviews

[Lori Schiele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Behavioral "Profiler" for the FBI, Ulysses Grove chases down a serial killer who murders within the eye of hurricanes--a known man named Michael Doerr, who apparently has been possessed by the agent of evil and darkness that has inhabited all of mankind throughout the ages (or something of that sort).
This book is essentially a psycho-thriller, but I also placed it under the "paranormal" list because of the author's decision to make the killer possessed, rather than what is, unfortunately, sometimes just human behavior, no matter how abnormal it may be.
The other reason--and I don't know if this was the reason why the author chose for the supernatural flavor--was the unlikely, very improbable, survivability of the characters following a long and protracted life-and-death battle in the middle of a Category 5 hurricane in the unfortunate city of New Orleans only one year after Hurricane Katrina.

[Gene Pensari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt the author struggled with this story a bit, especially the first half of book , where it seemed the plot was kind of meandering and not gaining any traction. The second half of book really does take off when the plot finally solidifies , the action is really high paced with lots of suspense that leads to a really intense finish. Just enough to make me want to read the 3rd book in series.

[M.Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very fast-paced book; the writing itself seems to be almost incomplete. The story was okay, but not the best written. The characters seemed to just be cutouts moving from place to place. I would recommend it if you want a quick thriller. The location was very unique, but it also seemed a little inhumane to write about the real-life deaths that happened at the location.

[RUTH · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK book, took me 100 pages to get into. Good ending.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ulysses Groves' second case includes, a Mayan expedition gone wrong, ritual human sacrifices and a killer storm that's gonna hit New Orleans....again.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little on the grisly side. What with the "Holy Ghost" (Holy Demon is more like it) removing people's teeth and eyeballs - usually they were drugged or dead at the time.

Apparently Bonansinga has a series going about a FBI profiler named Ulysses Grove.

It was an okay book. I might well look for others in this series but would hope that they are not quite as grisly.

And on the plus side, for those who like extreme weather, this does take place in eye of the hurricane.

A couple of points though:

1. One problem is that his skin color appears to change quite often. At times he is carmel, other times chocolate or butterscotch and he does become ashy at one point. When he became ashy he was kind of turning blue and had been in the water for some time so maybe is conceivable. Maybe skin color changes, I don't know - my skin only changes if I am out in the sun too much and then I get redder or tanner.

2. Bonansinga says that New Orleans did a wonderful job one year after Katrina in putting the city back together. I was there for a conference three years after Katrina and it wasn't all that put back together. The hotel was moldy. Many restaurants not re-opened. But the ones that were open were very effusive and welcomed us with open arms. We would come in with a party of eleven and usually could get a table right away. We had a good time.

3. At the end of the book there is a gratuitous reference to two people who wore eye patches - Moshe Dian and Yule Brenner - funny, I thought their names were spelled Moshe Dyn and Yul Brynner and I didn't really remember Yul wearing an eye patch except maybe in the movies. He could have used Raoul Walsh who wore an eye patch for many years if he wanted to use someone from the movies.

[Priya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing wasn't all that great, it was all over the place and although I understood what was going on, I didn't quite grasp why it was going on.

There were a lot of questions that went unanswered and it just didn't do it for me. For example, what was the significance of the hurricanes and why was Grove so special, other than the fact that he looked similar to Doerr's father. What was the meaning of the symbol, why did the ritual have to be performed and what was the connection between the exorcism from the Sun City Case and the sacrifices in this story. Even though the main character questioned this, the author never answered. It was really choppy. Maybe the questions were answered, maybe not, but for me, they weren't apparent enough.

As for the genre, it did fit under the thriller category. The ideas were gruesome, but not very graphic, they were disturbing, but the way they were described didn't cause the scenes to stick, (aside from the part where Doerr is trying to rip Grove's eye out...ehh...).

Overall, it was decent, not amazing.

[Mary C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book because it was a "page turner." It was the type of book that had me wondering, "What's going to happen next?" In other words, Jay B. is great at building suspense!
The reason I didn't give it more stars is because it's just way too long. I think 50-100 pages could have been chopped out after the characters sought shelter in Michael's appt.
Jay obviously did his research; I learned a heck of a lot about hurricanes. The fact that the setting was a hurricane added to the suspense.
I would probably read another of his books.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty interesting, although drawn out a little more than it needed to be. Jay Bonansinga is a strong writer. The book was well thought out. Characters were well developed as well. It kept you engaged in the story, interested in what happened next. I liked the pace of the book overall.

[Timothy McNeil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't good writing. There is some kind of story, but this is mostly liberal borrowing from other successful serials and mixing them to get what is here. It is made all the worse for its abuse of post-Katrina New Orleans (which wouldn't have seemed any better if it was simply a hurricane destroyed New Orleans in a world where Katrina never happened).

[Hildegart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book but am struggling to get through it. It's a combination of writing style and plot setting that are making it difficult to read for me. i plan on giving the book another chance sometime in the future.

[Roxanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone gave me this book because she thought I would like it. She was wrong. Very, very wrong. Ugh.

[Sarah Jowett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried but I couldn't get into it.................

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3 1/2 stars for me I just couldn't engage in the story.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost me very early.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

so-so writing. not great not bad. i was not upset when i was finished.