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Vail/Stampler #2
Show of Evil
When Linda Balfour, a young mother, is found butchered in small-town southern Illinois, a coded inscription stamped in blood on the back of her head brands her mutilated body. For Chief Prosecutor Martin Vail, the Bloody insignia drags up memories he'd like to forget - memories of Bishop Rushman, slashed and dismembered ten years ago by an altar boy, Aaron Stampler. But if Stampler is locked away, he cannot have murdered Linda. With his career - and his life - on the line, Vail needs answers fast before the killer signs someone else's life away.
503 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
William Diehl
33 books180 followersWilliam Diehl was an American novelist and photojournalist.
Diehl was fifty years old and already a successful photographer and journalist when he decided to begin a writing career. His first novel, Sharky's Machine, which became a movie by the same name was directed by and starred Burt Reynolds. Diehl saw the movie shot on location in and around his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Following the success of Sharky's Machine, Diehl relocated to St. Simons Island, GA in the early 80's where he lived for the next 15 years before going back to the Atlanta area. While living on St. Simons, he completed eight more novels, including Primal Fear, which also became a movie by the same name starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. Diehl died at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on November 24, 2006, of an aortic aneurism. He was a resident of Woodstock, Georgia at the time of his death and was working on his tenth novel.
Diehl was fifty years old and already a successful photographer and journalist when he decided to begin a writing career. His first novel, Sharky's Machine, which became a movie by the same name was directed by and starred Burt Reynolds. Diehl saw the movie shot on location in and around his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Following the success of Sharky's Machine, Diehl relocated to St. Simons Island, GA in the early 80's where he lived for the next 15 years before going back to the Atlanta area. While living on St. Simons, he completed eight more novels, including Primal Fear, which also became a movie by the same name starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. Diehl died at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on November 24, 2006, of an aortic aneurism. He was a resident of Woodstock, Georgia at the time of his death and was working on his tenth novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
June 28, 2025
Завръщаме се в Чикаго, десет години след като Аарон Стемплър е оправдан и затворен за лечение в щатската лудница с поетичното име "Дейзиленд".
Марти Вейл е минал на другата страна - станал е заместник окръжен прокурор и е събрал дружина от изявени таланти, с които бори безпощадно престъпността и корупцията в града.
Един от тях има дарбата да снажда факти и случаи в едно и това му позволява да открие познат почерк, в няколко привидно несвързани зловещи убийства. Всички следи водят към познат нам демон, който се опитва да се измъкне на свобода…
Прилично продължение на първия роман, ще видя скоро и как завършва историята, в третата книга от поредицата.
Марти Вейл е минал на другата страна - станал е заместник окръжен прокурор и е събрал дружина от изявени таланти, с които бори безпощадно престъпността и корупцията в града.
Един от тях има дарбата да снажда факти и случаи в едно и това му позволява да открие познат почерк, в няколко привидно несвързани зловещи убийства. Всички следи водят към познат нам демон, който се опитва да се измъкне на свобода…
Прилично продължение на първия роман, ще видя скоро и как завършва историята, в третата книга от поредицата.
August 23, 2017
Martin Vail vs Aron Stampler...
Back in April 2006, when I first read Primal Fear, I knew I wanted to know more. About both of these people... I was intrigued and mystified... a little terrified also... especially by the parting statement from Aron.
As the sequel to the chilling and entertaining Primal Fear, Show of Evil is a good book to read. If you have not read the Primal Fear, you might want to pick and read that one first. Because its a sequel in the most sequel like fashion....though it shares information about the earlier book, if you truly want to experience the thrill...
As novels go, I still prefer reading the first one. As a standalone novel, Show of Evil might fall short on intensity and flow. It misses out on the brilliance of Marty Vail as a strategist and risk taker. In Show of Evil, you see Marty as being referred as both the skills however, there's hardly any show of him actually being both. You miss out on his and judge's banter and discussions. Those I believe were a treat for the reader in Primal Fear.
So, in and all, Show of Evil stands on the good graces of Primal Fear without much of its own merit to shine. There are some fast paced action sequences and schemes... but nothing much to its individual credit. If you have read Primal Fear, you might enjoy Show of Evil as a followup to read... however, as a standalone... I'm not so sure.
Back in April 2006, when I first read Primal Fear, I knew I wanted to know more. About both of these people... I was intrigued and mystified... a little terrified also... especially by the parting statement from Aron.
As the sequel to the chilling and entertaining Primal Fear, Show of Evil is a good book to read. If you have not read the Primal Fear, you might want to pick and read that one first. Because its a sequel in the most sequel like fashion....though it shares information about the earlier book, if you truly want to experience the thrill...
As novels go, I still prefer reading the first one. As a standalone novel, Show of Evil might fall short on intensity and flow. It misses out on the brilliance of Marty Vail as a strategist and risk taker. In Show of Evil, you see Marty as being referred as both the skills however, there's hardly any show of him actually being both. You miss out on his and judge's banter and discussions. Those I believe were a treat for the reader in Primal Fear.
So, in and all, Show of Evil stands on the good graces of Primal Fear without much of its own merit to shine. There are some fast paced action sequences and schemes... but nothing much to its individual credit. If you have read Primal Fear, you might enjoy Show of Evil as a followup to read... however, as a standalone... I'm not so sure.
March 2, 2014
Almost better than Primal Fear. Almost.
February 20, 2019
A great read! The characters were well-developed and the plot was suspenseful. I picked this one up at a thrift store and didn't know it was part of a series. That wasn't a problem. William Diehl added enough information from the previous book that I didn't get lost in the plot or the conversations. I also like how the lawyers were working on multiple cases. That made the story seem more realistic.
September 1, 2018
Aaron Stampler is back with a vengeance. With a host of many other new characters, and some old too.
I enjoyed almost everything, the plot twists, the other plots besides Stampler, many of the characters, the writing and the story. The thing that I didn't like much was the repetition, there was repetition of events throughout the story but also some recountings of the first book and then these whole passages of the old courtroom case.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think I mostly enjoyed the two other cases in the book and not the Stampler one that much. Maybe I was kind of done with that character already. But I gotta read the last one of this trilogy so no, I'm not done with him yet.
Plot in Finnish with spoilers:
I enjoyed almost everything, the plot twists, the other plots besides Stampler, many of the characters, the writing and the story. The thing that I didn't like much was the repetition, there was repetition of events throughout the story but also some recountings of the first book and then these whole passages of the old courtroom case.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think I mostly enjoyed the two other cases in the book and not the Stampler one that much. Maybe I was kind of done with that character already. But I gotta read the last one of this trilogy so no, I'm not done with him yet.
Plot in Finnish with spoilers:
January 25, 2015
The chilling sequal to Primal Fear. Aron Stampler is not psychotic - he is demonic.
October 17, 2026
This was a very good book & the ending was great. My problem was all the characters. So many names!
February 28, 2023
Linda Balfour is a little housewife in the Southern part of Illinois who is brutally murdered in the first part of this book. The link to the last book is that she was one of the "altar boys" group that Bishop rushmore was molesting in the last book. She was also Aaron Stampler's girlfriend in the last book, but she disappeared after Aaron stampler was sent to the insane asylum, with supposedly multiple personalities. But if you remember, at the end of the trial, Aaron stampler whispered to Martin vale "suppose there never was an Aaron stampler."
" 'Split personality?' said Flaherty.
'a misnomer, but yes. Like Sybil. His alter ego was a madman who called himself Roy. Stampler was this sweet, almost naive backwoods kid. Roy was a psychotic killer. When stampler became agitated or was abused in some way, Roy was triggered. He came out and did the dirty work. Stampler was in a fugue state and didn't know what was going on.' "
This Aaron stampler character is someone very easy to hate. He has Superman-like qualities, he outsmarts everybody, and manages to build himself a Mini computer even while he's confined in a mental institute. Indeed, this same Aaron Stampler character will survive after falling down the shaft of mine number 5 in Tennessee, where he was sent by his father and mother to work at the age of 9. . Who would believe that? Not me. And I'm not even gonna read that book.
In the last book, Martin Vale was a Defense attorney. In this book, he's the assistant DA, but his boss has a stroke and dies soon afterwards, so Martin is Now the DA for Chicago.
There are 3 different murder investigations going on in this book. The first one is a hillbilly redneck who murdered his wife but has an air tight alibi. Nevertheless Martin Vale and his hotshot lawyer team unravel the details and send him to jail.
"Everyone on the team believed he had murdered his wife, but they could not prove his story was phony. There were some damaging circumstances, but that was all they were: circumstances. He was having a fling with a stripper named poppy Palmer. He had insured both himself and his wife for $250,000 6 months before the shooting. And the previous 2 years had been a disaster. Darby, on the verge of bankruptcy, was about to lose his farm.
But there were no witnesses, so there was no way to challenge him. His story, supported by the BoVine miss Palmer, Was that a hysterical Ramona Darby had called Palmer an hour or so before the shooting and threatened kill both Darby and Palmer. A slip of paper with palmer's number had been found near the darby's phone."
The 2nd murder investigation is that of the Head of a company, who is also head of the Democratic Party in Chicago, who is murdered in his Penthouse apartment. His executive secretary, who he just recently fired to exchange for a younger version, admits right off the bat that she killed him. We don't really know what happened, but it turns out that he had a little S&M Nook in his closet, and he liked to be whipped by his secretary. There's something wrong here though, because we get clues that it was really her daughter who was the dominatrix.
I got a kick out of the attitude of the widow of Delaney, the S&M kook:
"She almost sneered down at the corpse. 'typical,' she said.
There was a quick exchange of glances. Nobody said a word.
'I didn't even know about this apartment,' she said staring out of the window. She seemed transfixed by the scene of death. Her voice began to climb, not louder, but higher pitched, and she spoke in a rush, as if she had memorized a monologue and was afraid she would forget something. Vail thought she was perhaps in some stage of shock, traumatized by the sight of her husband's corpse.
'it's quite lovely. A little severe, but quite lovely. Pretty good for a man who made a fortune running slaughterhouses. 'she peered at one of the paintings. 'I never did like his taste in art. Abstracts leave me so cold.' she turned to face Firestone. 'doesn't seem quite fair, does it, Raymond? To have a beautiful place like this and not share it with the woman you supposedly love, who bore your children, shared your bed?' she paused for a moment and then added nonchalantly, 'put up with all those lies.' "
and of course the 3rd murder investigation is Aaron stampler carrying on murders of the last of the altar boy's group from his cell in the mental institution.
There's a sex scene between martin vale and Jane Venable. I ask the author: why do you put in details of a sex acene? Do you think readers don't know what goes on in a sex scene? All you're doing is lowering my review one star. I had to skip over the sex scene so that I wouldn't throw up on the book.
I gave the 1st book 4 stars. This one barely got 3. I don't need to know about Aaron Stampler's hard ons, and I don't need to know what Jane Venable and martin Vale are doing in their bedroom.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2024
A inceput destul de incet, cu 2 fire narative noi si noi personaje despre care nu am fost interesat neaparat. Dar odata ce a revenit la povestea principala, continuarea primei carti, m a captivat complet. Un final neasteptat si super satisfacator. Merita citita.
November 23, 2023
Excellent follow up story for the author's last book (I think), Primal Fear. That book had me on the edge of my chair at every reading.
Show of Evil became really intriguing about half way through. The main killer character was cunning and dangerous. This was very well written. The details were such that I felt I was right there with the prosecutor while in or out of court.
Show of Evil became really intriguing about half way through. The main killer character was cunning and dangerous. This was very well written. The details were such that I felt I was right there with the prosecutor while in or out of court.
September 10, 2017
Liked the ending way better than I liked the beginning! Slow to start and way too many characters to keep track of, at least at this point in my life! The 2nd half of the book went much faster and enjoyed the mysterious ending. Didn't know who the killer was going to be until very close to the end!
February 26, 2015
Awesome book! Great twist at the end and the climax scenes played out as if you were watching a movie.
I really like the way this author writes and look forward to reading the final book in this trilogy.
I really like the way this author writes and look forward to reading the final book in this trilogy.
February 5, 2019
Love, love, love this novel.
April 3, 2019
Show of Evil is set 10 years after what is one of my favourite books and films, the superb Primal Fear by William Diehl. The main characters are all here; Aaron Stampler, the young alter boy with the split personality who killed the Archbishop, his lawyer Martin Vail, the prosecutor, and pert-time ex-love interest of Vail's, Jane Venable and the phycologist, Molly Arrington. Judge Stoat, still on the bench, also makes an appearance.
Vail has now changed sides to the states Assistant DA partly due to his conscious and the effect that the Stampler case and revelations had on him. Venable is now a corporate lawyer who never recovered from the defeat at the hands of Vail.
Whilst dealing with the murder of a wife, killed by her husband claiming self-defence, Vail becomes aware of another murder of another woman and he doesn't like the similarities with those committed by Stampler. It is also revealed that Stampler killed two of the other alter boys being abused by Archbishop Rushman, specifically the mutilation and the numbers carved into the skull of the victim. Whilst working these cases Vail checks up on the whereabouts of Stampler to be safe and he finds that he is still in the Mental Institution,. Daisyland, that he was sent to 10 years ago. Feeling a modicum of comfort Vail's team, he's now Acting DA as his boss has suffered a stroke, seek to solve the case (Whatever happen to the Police when it comes to crime solving??) along with a third, the murder of a politician, naked in his secret apartment, gives the team another unwanted distraction.
Meanwhile at a rally Vail and Venable meet again for the first time in 10 years and after a bit of will they won't they the two speak to each other and the attraction is still there.
A further murder occurs and as with similarities to Stampler's previous work and feeling that two cases is too much of a coincidence and so takes a trip to Daisyland to meet Stampler's doctor and Stampler himself. Stampler is now an electronics wizard and a model inmate but now going by the a new name having supposedly flushed out the demons of both Aaron and Roy, his murderous alter-ego. Once it becomes apparent that the victims of these murders are Stampler's ex-girlfriend and the remaining Alter Boy the race is on to find out how Stampler is either organising these murders, no mean feat as he has had no visitors or contact with the outside world in 10 years, or to determine whether there is a copycat killer, and if so, who before someone else dies?
The trace is intensified as Stampler has a release date looming and Stampler giving, what Vail sees a little hints that he is fooling everyone.
The novel then takes an electrifying pace, more murders occur, in what is a real cat and mouse chase with deadly consequences and outcomes. This heart stopping novel is right up there with Primal Fear as one of the best and most exciting novels on the shelves. Reading it you can still see Ed Norton giving his incredible screen debut performance as Stampler and it frightens the life out of you! One proviso, you MUST read Primal Fear first to really wallow in the experience.
Vail has now changed sides to the states Assistant DA partly due to his conscious and the effect that the Stampler case and revelations had on him. Venable is now a corporate lawyer who never recovered from the defeat at the hands of Vail.
Whilst dealing with the murder of a wife, killed by her husband claiming self-defence, Vail becomes aware of another murder of another woman and he doesn't like the similarities with those committed by Stampler. It is also revealed that Stampler killed two of the other alter boys being abused by Archbishop Rushman, specifically the mutilation and the numbers carved into the skull of the victim. Whilst working these cases Vail checks up on the whereabouts of Stampler to be safe and he finds that he is still in the Mental Institution,. Daisyland, that he was sent to 10 years ago. Feeling a modicum of comfort Vail's team, he's now Acting DA as his boss has suffered a stroke, seek to solve the case (Whatever happen to the Police when it comes to crime solving??) along with a third, the murder of a politician, naked in his secret apartment, gives the team another unwanted distraction.
Meanwhile at a rally Vail and Venable meet again for the first time in 10 years and after a bit of will they won't they the two speak to each other and the attraction is still there.
A further murder occurs and as with similarities to Stampler's previous work and feeling that two cases is too much of a coincidence and so takes a trip to Daisyland to meet Stampler's doctor and Stampler himself. Stampler is now an electronics wizard and a model inmate but now going by the a new name having supposedly flushed out the demons of both Aaron and Roy, his murderous alter-ego. Once it becomes apparent that the victims of these murders are Stampler's ex-girlfriend and the remaining Alter Boy the race is on to find out how Stampler is either organising these murders, no mean feat as he has had no visitors or contact with the outside world in 10 years, or to determine whether there is a copycat killer, and if so, who before someone else dies?
The trace is intensified as Stampler has a release date looming and Stampler giving, what Vail sees a little hints that he is fooling everyone.
The novel then takes an electrifying pace, more murders occur, in what is a real cat and mouse chase with deadly consequences and outcomes. This heart stopping novel is right up there with Primal Fear as one of the best and most exciting novels on the shelves. Reading it you can still see Ed Norton giving his incredible screen debut performance as Stampler and it frightens the life out of you! One proviso, you MUST read Primal Fear first to really wallow in the experience.
July 24, 2026
Apparently I’m the only person in the world that absolutely HATED this book, according to goodreads reviews. What a fucking slog. Way too many characters, the storyline was bloated as fuck with these random ass cases like who CARESSSS about this stupid secretary killing her boss?? And the returning characters honestly seemed completely changed from the first book. Like yeah it’s been ten years or whatever and they’d be affected by the events of the Rushman case but they seemed like totally different people. Oh my God poor Molly by the way, that just seemed like an unnecessarily cruel fate. And then the second killer being Aaron’s pedophile teacher was just so stupid. Pedophiles are degenerates but they’re not inherently murderous, and she didn’t seem at all violent enough to secretly be a murdering psychopath (I mean sexual abuse in its nature is violence but you know what I mean). It was just dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb DUMB and I actually liked the first book a lot but rest assured I won’t be reaching for the third any time soon (or within my lifetime probably)
Also add William Diehl to the Jail For Men Who Write Terrible Sex Scenes along with James Patterson and Stephen King (sorry Uncle Steve)
Also add William Diehl to the Jail For Men Who Write Terrible Sex Scenes along with James Patterson and Stephen King (sorry Uncle Steve)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2026
4⭐️/5
Show of Evil really thrives on the rivalry between Vail and Stampler. Their continued cat-and-mouse battle is easily the strongest part of the book, and there’s something incredibly compelling about watching Vail try to stay one step ahead while Stampler’s sheer evil becomes increasingly apparent. Stampler is the kind of character who makes you genuinely uneasy, not because of how over-the-top he is, but because of how cold and calculated his actions can feel.
My only real disappointment was that some of the other elements of the story felt like they took a bit of a back seat to this ongoing storyline. While I completely understand why the book focuses so heavily on their rivalry, I occasionally found myself wanting some of those other threads to have a little more room to develop.
That said, the strength of Vail and Stampler’s storyline more than makes up for it. Their rivalry has become the heart of the series, and by the end I was left with exactly the feeling you want from a penultimate book: I need to know how this finally ends.
Bring on the final book!
Show of Evil really thrives on the rivalry between Vail and Stampler. Their continued cat-and-mouse battle is easily the strongest part of the book, and there’s something incredibly compelling about watching Vail try to stay one step ahead while Stampler’s sheer evil becomes increasingly apparent. Stampler is the kind of character who makes you genuinely uneasy, not because of how over-the-top he is, but because of how cold and calculated his actions can feel.
My only real disappointment was that some of the other elements of the story felt like they took a bit of a back seat to this ongoing storyline. While I completely understand why the book focuses so heavily on their rivalry, I occasionally found myself wanting some of those other threads to have a little more room to develop.
That said, the strength of Vail and Stampler’s storyline more than makes up for it. Their rivalry has become the heart of the series, and by the end I was left with exactly the feeling you want from a penultimate book: I need to know how this finally ends.
Bring on the final book!
May 12, 2019
Show of Evil is the sequel to Primal Fear featuring defense attorney Martin Vail and Aaron Stampler. Primal Fear was made into a movie (worth seeing before or after the book).
Martin Vail has switched sides of the courtroom and is now a prosecutor. Unfortunately, this is all I can tell you without giving away all the shockers from Primal Fear and Show of Evil. Suffice it say - READ THEM BOTH! But wait! There's one more - Reign in Hell - the end of the Vail/Stampler trilogy. I haven't read this yet...I'm hoarding it.
Alas, William Diehl has gone and died on us (it's been several years and I'm still not over it) so there will be no more of his superb writing, extraordinary characters and sheer terror development. The only solution is to begin at the beginning of his list of novels and read them all over again.
Martin Vail has switched sides of the courtroom and is now a prosecutor. Unfortunately, this is all I can tell you without giving away all the shockers from Primal Fear and Show of Evil. Suffice it say - READ THEM BOTH! But wait! There's one more - Reign in Hell - the end of the Vail/Stampler trilogy. I haven't read this yet...I'm hoarding it.
Alas, William Diehl has gone and died on us (it's been several years and I'm still not over it) so there will be no more of his superb writing, extraordinary characters and sheer terror development. The only solution is to begin at the beginning of his list of novels and read them all over again.
August 19, 2023
“Primal Fear” was a great book with some well defined characters. “Show of Evil” is the perfect sequel. It’s ten years later and Aaron/Roy the split personality killer may be released from the mental facility who have claimed he is cured! D.A. Martin Vail and his team of prosecutors and detectives try and keep an eye on him (while working other cases) but there appears to be a copycat killer taking out people that knew Aaron from the past! Can Martin Vail and his team stop Aaron/Roy, find this mysterious copycat killer before they are also targeted?
And I have discovered there is a third book in this series: Reign in Hell. Needless to say I’m going to jump on that book right away.
And I have discovered there is a third book in this series: Reign in Hell. Needless to say I’m going to jump on that book right away.
March 8, 2025
Full disclosure: I didn't read Primal Fear. But I have seen the movie and when I discovered there were more books I had to see if they were any good. I had low expectations so I was happy to discover that I enjoyed this book. I burned through it. Diehl rehashes enough of the original Stampler case to catch me up from book one while weaving in several other new cases to make it interesting. And it all leads up to one wild ending. But wait, there's book three...
content: plenty of language, gory murders, and sexual references (only one descriptive sex scene). This book is gritty and descriptive, but I wouldn't call it overly explicit.
content: plenty of language, gory murders, and sexual references (only one descriptive sex scene). This book is gritty and descriptive, but I wouldn't call it overly explicit.
January 29, 2020
spoilers if u haven’t read/finished primal fear but not rly spoilers for this book, just describing the villain w various adjectives read at ur discretion ⬇️
love william diehl’s writing, such a great follow up to the first book primal fear & SO SCARY. even scarier so much scarier than primal fear many more cases and things going on but of course the main focus is still aaron stampler who is just SUCH A GOOODDD VILLAIN. SO. SCARY. he is such a calculating, evil, psychopathic, angry, murderous monster and he is SO SCARY. omg.
love william diehl’s writing, such a great follow up to the first book primal fear & SO SCARY. even scarier so much scarier than primal fear many more cases and things going on but of course the main focus is still aaron stampler who is just SUCH A GOOODDD VILLAIN. SO. SCARY. he is such a calculating, evil, psychopathic, angry, murderous monster and he is SO SCARY. omg.
February 5, 2020
This is the sequel to Primal Fear. I saw the movie (1996; love Richard Gere), but don't remember if I read the book. The ending of the movie blew me away.
This paperback has been sitting on my bookcase, patiently waiting for me to get around to it. I hadn't remembered the details of the original story, but that's okay. The author wove in everything we needed to know. Lots of suspense, twists and action. I'm sure he took some license with attorney/client and doctor/patient privileges in this one, but once again, an ending that delivers.
This paperback has been sitting on my bookcase, patiently waiting for me to get around to it. I hadn't remembered the details of the original story, but that's okay. The author wove in everything we needed to know. Lots of suspense, twists and action. I'm sure he took some license with attorney/client and doctor/patient privileges in this one, but once again, an ending that delivers.
July 8, 2020
An awesomely good book, it's definitely a book that I didn't want to put down.
10 yrs ago in southern Illinois a teenager brutally kills a Bishop & gets sent to the state mental facility. 10 yrs later, people who were friends with this teenager are now being brutally murdered the same way the teen had killed the Bishop. Only problem is the teen, now a grown man is still locked up in an Illinois mental facility. So who's killing off his old friends??? Is this the work of a copycat????
You're definitely going to have to read this book the find out!!!!
10 yrs ago in southern Illinois a teenager brutally kills a Bishop & gets sent to the state mental facility. 10 yrs later, people who were friends with this teenager are now being brutally murdered the same way the teen had killed the Bishop. Only problem is the teen, now a grown man is still locked up in an Illinois mental facility. So who's killing off his old friends??? Is this the work of a copycat????
You're definitely going to have to read this book the find out!!!!
September 17, 2025
Mi-a plăcut William Diehl, Huliganii rămânând și astăzi unul dintre romanele mele favorite.
Mare parte din restul scrierilor sale poartă totuși o pecete cam prea pronunțată (evident, este propria-mi părere) a maleficului supranatural. Ori, eu am fost întotdeauna adeptul chestiunilor lumești. Bune sau rele, în principal rele, că altfel nu s-ar povesti, dar cât mai aproape de realitate.
Cu alte cuvinte, dacă ar fi fost să scriu eu despre necazurile lui aaron Stampler, aș fi făcut-o un pic altfel...
Mare parte din restul scrierilor sale poartă totuși o pecete cam prea pronunțată (evident, este propria-mi părere) a maleficului supranatural. Ori, eu am fost întotdeauna adeptul chestiunilor lumești. Bune sau rele, în principal rele, că altfel nu s-ar povesti, dar cât mai aproape de realitate.
Cu alte cuvinte, dacă ar fi fost să scriu eu despre necazurile lui aaron Stampler, aș fi făcut-o un pic altfel...
October 1, 2020
It took me awhile to get through this book, but let's be real, COVID changed everyone's lifestyle. The read was engaging and fill of detail; a perfect compliment to the first book. However, I do wish there wasn't a third. The book could have wrapped up the story so nicely, but it ended in a predictable cliffhanger. I want to know the ended so I will be reading the third book even though I'm not too excited to.
January 11, 2024
A propulsive and fairly solid 90s thriller that falls somewhere between Thomas Harris's slightly earlier Hannibal Lector novels and the early novels in Michael Connolly's roughly contemporary Harry Bosch series. This is the middle book in a trilogy featuring lawyer Martin Vail and a young man named Aaron Stampler (who...well, begins as Vail's client and then...you'll see when you read them) that Diehl began in Primal Fear (1993) and finished in Reign in Hell (1997).
March 9, 2019
A real page and stomach turner. It will give me nightmares, perhaps because it was well-written and the good guys were appealing. The only quibbles are: 1) women can be smart and successful but not beautiful (though Diehl doesn’t seem to think so), 2) office romances are a bad idea and no manager would condone them, and 3) is anybody really as smart as the bad guy?
May 18, 2022
Overall, I liked this book. Probably not as much as Primal Fear but I think it was good nonetheless. I would have liked more time on the Edith Stoddard subplot, to be honest, I thought it was really interesting and could have been it’s own novel/short story. Aaron Stampler is still a really terrifying character and this book turns that up by 100%.
August 22, 2023
The beginning scared me a little bit, because it took a while to really get into it. However, Primal Fear (which is one of my. favorite books of all time) had the same thing. Diehl introduced so many new, incredible characters, and the last 100 pages had me at the edge of my seat and I read the whole end of it in one sitting. I am absolutely geeked to read the third book.
May 24, 2026
This book takes a longggg time to get going. So many characters, events, backstories to introduce. I almost didn't finish it, and I ended up happy that I did. Once the author gets going he just roars ahead. Vail is clever as ever, Stampler is evil as ever. And lots going on at a fast pace. Glad I read it though I'm not sure I'll continue with the #3 in the series.
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