Tender Prey

by Patricia Roberts

In a rough Irish neighborhood of Brooklyn, during the 1930s, a little girl becomes the victim of kidnapping and a brutal, ritual murder.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Considered the first British designer to elevate hand knitting to the realms of high fashion. Produced the first pattern books styled and photographed like a fashion magazine. At the forefront of the knitting revolution of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The early Patricia Roberts books inspired many of the UK hand-knitters of the early 1980s to take up their needles - including Kaffe Fasset.

Reviews

[Jen E · Rating 3 out of 5]

More sophisticated writing ability than your typical modern mystery author, IMO. Liked it but darker than I prefer. Ran out of books while on recent cruise and this one was on the ship. Didn’t feel like a complete ending.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty strange book and when I go to review it, I find out also strange cause the author is most known for being a knitting writer....so a novel about a serial killer set in the 30's was not in her normal wheelhouse.

The story itself was actually really good - evil person picks on unfortunate widows to get money and more importantly victims. And then the cop who chases him. Add in an element that I don't know if it inspired the movie Seven....but sure felt like it...and really could have been a hell of tense novel.

The issue is Roberts seemed to be torn between a suspense story and a character treatise on the sociopath and the cop, diving deep into the character flaws and minute daily life of the detective trying to solve the case while telling the story of the killer from a first person view. At times it simply got too tedious as we were just following a guy around on a normal day for the most part - can only read about eating a meal so many times...

Considering I believe this was a debut though, I think Roberts could have made a career in this area if the writing about knitting hadn't worked out.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this was a very disturbing book. I finished it late one night and by 3:30 a.m. I was awake, thinking about what happened in the last six or so chapters.

[Cole Flegel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so hard to follow but had some good parts

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of a pedophile in 1930s America who uses his charm on widows with children to work his way into the house and then take the children.

Starts off quite strong, meanders a bit in the middle in the investigation phase but brings itself back on track for a firm ending.

Unlike many of such themed stories the ending isn't predictable.

Involves the murder and dismemberment of children as such, it is not one for the less mature audience.

It's an alright story with the historical aspect however I think there is better books out there on the topic at hand.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A psychopath preys only on widows with small daughters.