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Frank Quinn #10
Slaughter
LOVE THEM TO PIECES
A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions—all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he’s also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer. . .
A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions—all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he’s also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer. . .
Mass Market Paperback
First published August 25, 2015
About the author
John Lutz
242 books303 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.
His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.
John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.
His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
February 29, 2016
I was excited to be reading Slaughter by John Lutz, author of Single White Female. But not for long.
Neither the plot, nor the writing in this book flows. Instead it is disjointed, and superficial. Details that would make the story, which I found to be barely believable, interesting and more compelling are lightly glossed over or ignored totally. Also the writing is frequently repetitive. Three times in as many pages it is pointed out that Jasmine does not know Jordan has an apartment in NYC.
A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions—all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he’s also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer. . .
The story cuts back and forth between the present day crimes of 'The Gremlin' and the backstory of Jordan Kray which I found far more interesting than the 'present day' storyline.
This is #10 of the Frank Quinn series, and frankly, I won't be hurrying to read the others.
A disappointing read - I was expecting better from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for supplying a digital ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Neither the plot, nor the writing in this book flows. Instead it is disjointed, and superficial. Details that would make the story, which I found to be barely believable, interesting and more compelling are lightly glossed over or ignored totally. Also the writing is frequently repetitive. Three times in as many pages it is pointed out that Jasmine does not know Jordan has an apartment in NYC.
A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions—all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he’s also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer. . .
The story cuts back and forth between the present day crimes of 'The Gremlin' and the backstory of Jordan Kray which I found far more interesting than the 'present day' storyline.
This is #10 of the Frank Quinn series, and frankly, I won't be hurrying to read the others.
A disappointing read - I was expecting better from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for supplying a digital ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
May 11, 2017
This suspense book didn’t work for me at all. PI Frank Quinn and the other detectives should have been more fleshed out. It was hard to care anything about them when I felt like I knew nothing about them. The killer seemed to be the only character with any back story. He was called The Gremlin—a name which hardly evoked fear. He committed crimes of so many different natures that he must have never slept, and the believability factor of the story was stretched too far for me. Instead of being frightening and scary, The Gremlin just came off as annoying. He was constantly wondering about how everything worked and how he needed to disassemble things to find out how they worked. I got so tired of hearing about that and it totally drove me crazy after awhile. The plan at the end to flush out The Gremlin made absolutely no sense and made me wonder if I had skipped over something in the previous chapters. I probably should have just dnf-ed this one.
November 25, 2015
Frank Quinn and his team are hired once again by NYPD Chief to hunt down a serial killer.
The one thing the books in this series always have is a really, really bad antagonist. This time it's a man who has liked gadgets since he was a young child.
There's always been a compulsion to take things apart to see how the insides work. It could be an elevator, making it fall 40 floors and listening to the people inside scream. It could be arranging a magnifying glass in a way that a house would burn down .. taking his abusive parents, a twin brother and a younger sister with it.
He also has a compulsion to dissemble a woman ..or several..to see how they are the same ..or not.. on the inside. Kind of looking to see how they tick.
The reader knows from the beginning WHO it is. His story is told every 2-3 chapters starting with his memories as a child.
It's a non-stop ride, with him always staying one step ahead of Frank Quinn. As with all this author's books, the energy doesn't stop until the very last word on the very last page. It's become a bit formulaic, but I like Frank Quinn and Pearl and the others who make up his team. I even like the gruff Chief of Police.
I give it 5 stars for the series, for a terrific character in Frank Quinn, and for the eerie antagonists the author always comes up with.
The one thing the books in this series always have is a really, really bad antagonist. This time it's a man who has liked gadgets since he was a young child.
There's always been a compulsion to take things apart to see how the insides work. It could be an elevator, making it fall 40 floors and listening to the people inside scream. It could be arranging a magnifying glass in a way that a house would burn down .. taking his abusive parents, a twin brother and a younger sister with it.
He also has a compulsion to dissemble a woman ..or several..to see how they are the same ..or not.. on the inside. Kind of looking to see how they tick.
The reader knows from the beginning WHO it is. His story is told every 2-3 chapters starting with his memories as a child.
It's a non-stop ride, with him always staying one step ahead of Frank Quinn. As with all this author's books, the energy doesn't stop until the very last word on the very last page. It's become a bit formulaic, but I like Frank Quinn and Pearl and the others who make up his team. I even like the gruff Chief of Police.
I give it 5 stars for the series, for a terrific character in Frank Quinn, and for the eerie antagonists the author always comes up with.
July 7, 2015
This is definitely one of the goriest books that I have read. It had a lot of action. However, I'm not sure if its the fact that I did not read this in one sitting but several sittings, but I tended to get lost a few times. And when the author was going back and forth from New York to St. Louis, sometimes I didn't know if it was the past or if it was current tense. It was just a little confusing for me. Also, this guy wanted to see how things worked, why did it take killing so many women for him to figure that one out? I guess I am just a little confused in some places as to what actually happened. It seems the story would be in one place and then all of a sudden, another place. No break in chapter, no heading, no nothing. I read a bunch of these paragraphs several times shaking my head and saying "huh?".
Like I said, maybe it was the fact that I went away, came back, went away, came back several times. But personally, I think if your reading a book and it's a good one. You will definitely remember where you left off. I think this could have been a great book had it been not so confusing.
I want to thank Kensington Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this e-galley.
Like I said, maybe it was the fact that I went away, came back, went away, came back several times. But personally, I think if your reading a book and it's a good one. You will definitely remember where you left off. I think this could have been a great book had it been not so confusing.
I want to thank Kensington Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this e-galley.
December 15, 2015
While I’m not a HUGE John Lutz fan, I do generally enjoy his novels. Yes, they are somewhat similar. That’s not a good thing or a bad thing. That’s just the way they are.
I hadnt read a Lutz novel in some time and was thoroughly enjoying ‘Slaughter.’ As other reviewers have pointed out, it is indeed a gory book. I, personally, don’t have issue with that but others might.
As I read this novel I was sure I’d give it 5 stars.
Then, upon finishing it, I can only give it 3 stars.
Slaughter is enjoyable with likeable characters. It’s an interesting book that is fast moving and an easy read.
However, the last 40 pages or so is what brought this from 5 stars to 3. The ending seemed…forced, too much over the top, too extreme, too unbelievable and almost childish.
I’ll now explain why:
***spoiler***
---Quinn and Renz set a trap for The Gremlin in the hospital. Yet, once they get all the pieces in place, they fly off to STL to investigate a triple homicide the Gremlin committed there. I found this not believable for 2 reasons: a) now that they have set their trap and put 2 officers lives at stake, including Quinn’s girlfriend, Pearl, why on earth would they fly 1500 miles to STL at the critical moment? B) Why on earth would the STL PD leave the crime scene of a triple homicide unattended for 8 hours while cops from New York show up? Especially when the NYC cops obviously have no jurisdiction. Not believable at all. Imagine if there’s a homicide in Kansas City but cops there don’t do a thing as they wait for cops from LA to show up?
---The Gremlin is a serial killer. I get that. But, as other reviewers have pointed out, serial killers have their weapon of choice. Be it a gun or knife or machete or bombs or what have you. The fact that the Gremlin uses different ones makes this hard to believe and takes away credibility of the book.
---I read a lot of novels, about 2 books per week, I’ve never heard of a bomb you can strap to your chest that only blows outward while causing no damage to yourself. Maybe there is one but I’m unfamiliar with it.
---I also got very confused with the ‘trap.’ Pearl pretending to be Weaver pretending to be Pearl pretending to be Weaver. Very confusing. Plus, maybe I missed something but why suddenly was The Gremlin after Pearl? That, as far as I can recall, wasn’t explained.
---The finale at the helicopter was written poorly, in my opinion, I was confused as to what exactly happened, who was where and what was going on. When you have to read the finale twice something isn’t right.
---I also found the part about the simultaneous detonations extremely farfetched and again, not believable. Almost childish. The fact that a row of tall buildings along Broadway could be detonated in sequence and topple into one another like dominos was silly.
***end spoiler***
I will read more Lutz novels. His books are generally good, not great, but good. Slaughter, overall, was decent. Good book, bad ending.
I hadnt read a Lutz novel in some time and was thoroughly enjoying ‘Slaughter.’ As other reviewers have pointed out, it is indeed a gory book. I, personally, don’t have issue with that but others might.
As I read this novel I was sure I’d give it 5 stars.
Then, upon finishing it, I can only give it 3 stars.
Slaughter is enjoyable with likeable characters. It’s an interesting book that is fast moving and an easy read.
However, the last 40 pages or so is what brought this from 5 stars to 3. The ending seemed…forced, too much over the top, too extreme, too unbelievable and almost childish.
I’ll now explain why:
***spoiler***
---Quinn and Renz set a trap for The Gremlin in the hospital. Yet, once they get all the pieces in place, they fly off to STL to investigate a triple homicide the Gremlin committed there. I found this not believable for 2 reasons: a) now that they have set their trap and put 2 officers lives at stake, including Quinn’s girlfriend, Pearl, why on earth would they fly 1500 miles to STL at the critical moment? B) Why on earth would the STL PD leave the crime scene of a triple homicide unattended for 8 hours while cops from New York show up? Especially when the NYC cops obviously have no jurisdiction. Not believable at all. Imagine if there’s a homicide in Kansas City but cops there don’t do a thing as they wait for cops from LA to show up?
---The Gremlin is a serial killer. I get that. But, as other reviewers have pointed out, serial killers have their weapon of choice. Be it a gun or knife or machete or bombs or what have you. The fact that the Gremlin uses different ones makes this hard to believe and takes away credibility of the book.
---I read a lot of novels, about 2 books per week, I’ve never heard of a bomb you can strap to your chest that only blows outward while causing no damage to yourself. Maybe there is one but I’m unfamiliar with it.
---I also got very confused with the ‘trap.’ Pearl pretending to be Weaver pretending to be Pearl pretending to be Weaver. Very confusing. Plus, maybe I missed something but why suddenly was The Gremlin after Pearl? That, as far as I can recall, wasn’t explained.
---The finale at the helicopter was written poorly, in my opinion, I was confused as to what exactly happened, who was where and what was going on. When you have to read the finale twice something isn’t right.
---I also found the part about the simultaneous detonations extremely farfetched and again, not believable. Almost childish. The fact that a row of tall buildings along Broadway could be detonated in sequence and topple into one another like dominos was silly.
***end spoiler***
I will read more Lutz novels. His books are generally good, not great, but good. Slaughter, overall, was decent. Good book, bad ending.
August 10, 2015
Great Read!! Can be read as a stand alone novel. I have not read any of Det Quinn's previous stories and still enjoyed this book and I enjoyed it so much I will read previous Det Frank Quinn stories as he is character that makes you root for the good guys. Det Frank Quinn has been called in on a case where the killer seems to be taking things apart just to see how they work including people. As the detective draws closer to the serial killer his killing spree escalates and more and more people are dying. First individuals, then an elevator collapse, a crane falls from the side of a building and now they may have their first lead to finding the Gremlin. His deformed right ear which makes him look like a leprechaun or gremlin by eye witnesses accounts. Can Det Quinn catch him before he loses that which is most dear to him.
October 22, 2015
I loved most of this one. But I have to admit - there were places at the end that I found really confusing. With Pearl and Helen and Helen and Pearl. It's like I missed a whole chapter explaining about the killer and how he had this huge hard in to get back at Quinn. But I don't know why. There was also another portion near the end between Jasmine and the killer that felt like it was written by someone else and just dumped in the story. I'm pretty sure it was trying to explain something - but I just felt lost. Either way, if you took those out it was a pretty decent Quinn and Pearl thriller.
January 30, 2016
Disappointing. Disjointed. Confusing. Not up to the usual Frank Quinn novel.
July 14, 2015
I can't believe I've never read anything by Mr. Lutz before this! What is my damage?! A great police procedural thriller! Fast paced, lots of twists and turns, edge of your seat situations. I was really struck by the fact that the villain of the piece was labelled as crazy and there was no attempt to rationalize or explain away his crazy. There were scenes from an horrific child hood, but it was presented as is; no attempt at sympathy was made. Some times a sociopath is a sociopath and should be treated as such-such a refreshing change. The ending will blow you away. I'll have to get the rest of Mr. Lutz's books in this series, as well as his others. Highly recommended!
July 4, 2016
It was quite a struggle getting through this book. I could hardly wait to finish it. Another person might have quit reading but I'm very stubborn. I know this is a work of fiction but I couldn't stretch the boundaries of reality far enough to make any sense of what was happening. It was just totally unbelievable and very confusing. I've read other books by Mr. Lutz and enjoyed them much more than this one. Not sure if I'll give him another try or not.
December 9, 2021
An interesting concept for a murder thriller, but I found the book very jumpy. Lutz doesn't do a great job of introducing minor characters, and though this is book #10 in the series, it was book #1 for me, so I didn't have 9 books to get to know who is who. Similarly, he tells the story from the perspectives of both the good guys and the bad guys, but there are times when one storyline is days ahead of the other, like the bad guys read the news coverage of the latest murder, then the next chapter is the good guys doing their investigating with that same 'latest murder' happening to end the chapter. I'm all for a good thriller, but to be honest, what the book needed was for the bad guys to get a hold of it and do what they do to most of their victims. The leadup to the climactic scene came out of left field, as if Lutz's editors said 'the book is too long' and he decided to chop out the chapters that explained how the good guys came up with their master plan. The plan itself sticks with a formula I've read in other thrillers, but they're watching the bad guys do certain things and suddenly it's like, 'they're definitely going to do this thing next, so let's set them up' even though there has been no indication, even with Lutz providing the perspective of the bad guys too, that the bad guys were even interested in the notion.
All in all, it would probably get 3*, maybe even 4* if it wasn't so disjointed, but the fact that it left me utterly confused on more than one occasion separates this book and Lutz from the works of the thriller authors I've come to love
All in all, it would probably get 3*, maybe even 4* if it wasn't so disjointed, but the fact that it left me utterly confused on more than one occasion separates this book and Lutz from the works of the thriller authors I've come to love
October 31, 2020
2-1/2 stars.
It's been a few years between my reading the previous book in this series and this one. Now I remember why I wasn't so anxious to pick it up, even though it's been sitting on my bookshelf for about two years. I feel like the last several books in this series just don't compare to some of the earlier ones. This book, especially, just felt phoned in. Like, let's pick a plot and write the book, but pay no attention to details or plausibility. The author couldn't seem to decide which was the motivation of the killer -- curiosity about how things work, or several other reasons that were brought up once and then never spoken of again.
The familiar characters were always a huge part of my enjoyment of these books, but in this book they didn't have much of a starring role. This entire book just seemed "off" to me. More attention was paid to trying to make the villain a twisted character than was paid to plot development and believability. I won't even go into the whole ending that seemed like a last minute addition that really had no purpose for being included and seemed to belong in an entirely different book.
When I started this book, I was a bit sad to see that another Frank Quinn book hadn't been published after this one (since this one was already several years old when I read it). Now that I have finished it, I sort of hope that no additional ones follow, especially if they continue on the downhill trend the last couple have been.
It's been a few years between my reading the previous book in this series and this one. Now I remember why I wasn't so anxious to pick it up, even though it's been sitting on my bookshelf for about two years. I feel like the last several books in this series just don't compare to some of the earlier ones. This book, especially, just felt phoned in. Like, let's pick a plot and write the book, but pay no attention to details or plausibility. The author couldn't seem to decide which was the motivation of the killer -- curiosity about how things work, or several other reasons that were brought up once and then never spoken of again.
The familiar characters were always a huge part of my enjoyment of these books, but in this book they didn't have much of a starring role. This entire book just seemed "off" to me. More attention was paid to trying to make the villain a twisted character than was paid to plot development and believability. I won't even go into the whole ending that seemed like a last minute addition that really had no purpose for being included and seemed to belong in an entirely different book.
When I started this book, I was a bit sad to see that another Frank Quinn book hadn't been published after this one (since this one was already several years old when I read it). Now that I have finished it, I sort of hope that no additional ones follow, especially if they continue on the downhill trend the last couple have been.
October 5, 2022
This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Serial killers have some type of pattern. Not this character. He kills anybody and the situations are just ridiculous. He also blows up building and throws in a crane too. The plan to capture him had to be the stupidest thing in the history of stupid things. Characters and subplots that don’t mesh. Oh, also a plan to blow up a chunk of Manhattan just because. I only finished it because I had already started and want to meet my goal for the year. I can’t put this back in one of my local mini- libraries. I think I could get charged with distributing shitty books.
February 4, 2024
Slaughter, John Lutz (thriller, mystery)
Jeff Book Review #266
2015's "Slaughter" is part horror, part dark comedy about a serial madman in New York City killing people in horrible ways, and the cops, led by series star Detective Frank Quinn, trying to catch him.
Verdict: Not really a good cop procedural or mystery, but instead kind of a combination horror-thriller for the bad guy parts and dark comedy for the cop interactions. It held my attention and I wanted to see how it ended, but it isn't very good.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
Jeff Book Review #266
2015's "Slaughter" is part horror, part dark comedy about a serial madman in New York City killing people in horrible ways, and the cops, led by series star Detective Frank Quinn, trying to catch him.
Verdict: Not really a good cop procedural or mystery, but instead kind of a combination horror-thriller for the bad guy parts and dark comedy for the cop interactions. It held my attention and I wanted to see how it ended, but it isn't very good.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
October 31, 2017
Just terrible. The story had way too many characters, many of which were killed off shortly after being introduced, rendering their backstory irrelevant. The vast number of characters meant that none of them were properly fleshed out leaving me ambivilant to their fates and uninvested in the story. The story was weak and had many gaps which could have been filled if the author hadn't been so distracted with the many superfluous characters.
July 3, 2020
I was so close in giving this book 4 stars till the end... VERY Surprised ending, Excellent and SCARY if it was real....
August 1, 2015
I have loved John Lutz since his very first book - but the last few books have seem rushed - they start out with the usual fast paced action, but about 3/4 of the way through the individual story lines all get jumbled up and the end of the book just becomes blah. He puts so much effort into the books and then the end comes and it is like "Oh crap, I only have 20 pages left to wrap all of this up....". it leaves the reader with a sense of disappointment and a bit of bewilderment as how it just went from frantic page turning to did I miss something? Are there some pages missing?
I am not giving up on him yet - but perhaps he should re-read his first books and remember that the serial killer is the main part of the story and that the more sick and twisted the crime, the better the book reads. Don't skip it, but don't buy it in hardback either - it is a good book, but not one of his best.
I am not giving up on him yet - but perhaps he should re-read his first books and remember that the serial killer is the main part of the story and that the more sick and twisted the crime, the better the book reads. Don't skip it, but don't buy it in hardback either - it is a good book, but not one of his best.
October 18, 2015
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers, Kensington Books, for giving me the opportunity to read this in return for an honest and open review.
This is the first book I've read by John Lutz and therefore wasn't sure what to expect. It certainly didn't disappoint me. However, it's not a book for anyone who dislikes extremely graphic descriptions as there are plenty in the book.
The story concerns a deranged serial killer (are there any other kind?) and retired NYPD Captain Frank Quinn and his team's investigation.
"The Gremlin", NYPD's name for the killer, is without doubt one of the most evil characters I've ever read about.
John Lutz has written a fast-paced novel that I found hard to put down.
I read this as a stand-alone thriller and now intend to read more of Frank Quinn's adventures.
This is the first book I've read by John Lutz and therefore wasn't sure what to expect. It certainly didn't disappoint me. However, it's not a book for anyone who dislikes extremely graphic descriptions as there are plenty in the book.
The story concerns a deranged serial killer (are there any other kind?) and retired NYPD Captain Frank Quinn and his team's investigation.
"The Gremlin", NYPD's name for the killer, is without doubt one of the most evil characters I've ever read about.
John Lutz has written a fast-paced novel that I found hard to put down.
I read this as a stand-alone thriller and now intend to read more of Frank Quinn's adventures.
January 7, 2016
I have thoroughly enjoyed every Frank Quinn story by Lutz so I was surprised at how much I disliked this latest installment in the serial-killer hunters at Q&A. Unlike previous killers in Quinn stories, this killer appeared to kill for no other reason than he enjoyed “tinkering” with objects to learn how they worked. There was nothing notable in his past about what may have turned a childhood interest into a deadly obsession. The story was so disjointed and awkward that at times I had to go back and re-read entire pages to try and make sense of what was happening. As I mentioned, I have enjoyed all the other books in this series, so the disappointed experienced in this novel will not stop me from picking up future Frank Quinn stories.
July 1, 2015
I am conflicted as to how to review this novel. I enjoyed the main characters and admired the manner by which the author shows us how the killer came to be. However, the level of violence and gore was too much for me and I abandoned the book almost half way through.
I would definitely recommend this book to others that were aware of its graphic nature. The plot moves along quickly and I enjoyed the camaraderie of the detective squad. this is the 10th book in the Frank Quinn series and the first one I have read but I had no trouble following the story.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher.
I would definitely recommend this book to others that were aware of its graphic nature. The plot moves along quickly and I enjoyed the camaraderie of the detective squad. this is the 10th book in the Frank Quinn series and the first one I have read but I had no trouble following the story.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher.
August 17, 2015
Review featured on www.books-n-kisses.com
Not one of my favorites by Lutz. It seemed a little scattered if you ask me. First the killer doesn’t seem to stick to the same things. Everything I have ever learned the killer usually sticks to a general MO so when the killer doesn’t in this book it becomes distracting.
The story is a bit gory. I mean sometimes it just seems to go too far. I enjoy a suspenseful thriller as much as the next person but this one just seemed to be a bit overboard.
I will get the next in the series but I will read it with trepidation.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Not one of my favorites by Lutz. It seemed a little scattered if you ask me. First the killer doesn’t seem to stick to the same things. Everything I have ever learned the killer usually sticks to a general MO so when the killer doesn’t in this book it becomes distracting.
The story is a bit gory. I mean sometimes it just seems to go too far. I enjoy a suspenseful thriller as much as the next person but this one just seemed to be a bit overboard.
I will get the next in the series but I will read it with trepidation.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2016
I enjoyed this book to begin with. The murders were gory, the background of the killer was interesting, it was a very good read. Towards the end, however, it didn't really make sense. The killer wants Quinn's girlfriend but doesn't explain why. I went back over the book to try and figure out what was going on but I feel like there was a chapter missing. There's also a few errors in the book, the writer loses track of who is speaking at one point, with Quinn asking a question and Quinn answering. Good start, shame about the finish.
July 18, 2015
This book was appropriately creepy. The chapters alternated between telling the detectives' story as they try to catch the murderer to telling the murderer's past and his present as he planned his kills. I appreciated having his back story to find out why he became a serial killer, and while the ending wasn't that surprising, it was satisfying. I was able to follow the story without having read the previous books in the series, which I also appreciated.
August 26, 2015
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I started off with high hopes for this book but by about the halfway point I really struggled. I haven't read any of his other books so that may have led to some of my confusion on some of the characters and back story. I just felt like there were too many things going on all at once for one killer and that the flashbacks made it harder to follow. I got bogged down and had a hard time finishing it.
May 15, 2016
This is the first Lutz novel I've read. I didn't realize this was part of a series, so it was nice to be able to understand the plot and characters without the knowledge of the previous books. The story was good but wavered a lot at the end. It felt rushed and some things in regards to how they came to be were missed by me as the reader or not explained at all in the book. In summary, I enjoyed the book until the end and then I felt left with a lot of unanswered questions.
July 20, 2015
I received this arc from Netgalley.
Definitely an entertaining read that kept the pages flipping. The ending surprised me. I'm referring to the part with the Gremlin wanting P. All in all a pretty good read.
Definitely an entertaining read that kept the pages flipping. The ending surprised me. I'm referring to the part with the Gremlin wanting P. All in all a pretty good read.
September 13, 2015
Frank ain't no John Corey.
It felt like clockwork orange with The Gremlin driving the entire book. Frank Quinn more of a puppet who gets lucky rather than good. Plot over done with red herrings.
It felt like clockwork orange with The Gremlin driving the entire book. Frank Quinn more of a puppet who gets lucky rather than good. Plot over done with red herrings.
September 18, 2015
Whoa!! What a read. Got to visit with old friends as John Lutz wrote another chapter in the fears & horrors of a serial killer. I've missed Quinn, Pearl & the others as they faced the diabolical killer. This was a good read. After you read it, get the rest of the series & read it too!
October 31, 2015
Gory? Yes. Suspense? Yes
But tons of unanswered questions and dots that don't connect
Built several lines that sought to explain how he got this way but they were let open and unanswered.
Ending seemed rushed as if he was bored with writing and just write a quick end.
Disappointing overall
But tons of unanswered questions and dots that don't connect
Built several lines that sought to explain how he got this way but they were let open and unanswered.
Ending seemed rushed as if he was bored with writing and just write a quick end.
Disappointing overall
October 24, 2015
Spoiler alert - always enjoy Lutz but not sure what I missed in this one. I don't see how Pearl became the focus... Anyone?
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