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Joanna Mason #2
The House of Broken Backs
"I'm a family man at heart. I love all my families."
When thirty badly injured women are found crawling through a rural wilderness, it quickly becomes clear that someone is running a grotesque human farm. But it's not body parts that are being sold. It's whole identities.
Meanwhile, in a suburban house, a dangerous man plots his next move. For decades, he's been building a horrific empire based on torture and cruelty. With the police closing in, he realizes he needs to make his final move, but first he has to tidy up the loose ends of his three separate identities. Three families. Three wives. Three children. And they all need to die.
Detective Joanna Mason's investigation is complicated by the fact that she's been assigned a new partner who seems determined to trip her up. She's also losing the only friend she ever really had. As the dead bodies begin to pile up, Mason is forced to recognize the fact that this time, her usual methods might not be enough to solve the case.
When thirty badly injured women are found crawling through a rural wilderness, it quickly becomes clear that someone is running a grotesque human farm. But it's not body parts that are being sold. It's whole identities.
Meanwhile, in a suburban house, a dangerous man plots his next move. For decades, he's been building a horrific empire based on torture and cruelty. With the police closing in, he realizes he needs to make his final move, but first he has to tidy up the loose ends of his three separate identities. Three families. Three wives. Three children. And they all need to die.
Detective Joanna Mason's investigation is complicated by the fact that she's been assigned a new partner who seems determined to trip her up. She's also losing the only friend she ever really had. As the dead bodies begin to pile up, Mason is forced to recognize the fact that this time, her usual methods might not be enough to solve the case.
305 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 16, 2014
1 person is currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Amy Cross
664 books1,684 followersAmy Cross writes novels and short stories in a number of genres, mainly horror, paranormal and fantasy. Books include The Farm, Annie's Room, The Island, Eli's Town and Asylum.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 12, 2017
It was okay, I guess. Interesting secondary characters, but the leads weren't particularly interesting. The plot was pretty unrealistic, and seemed to be taken mostly from an old Wired article that caused a bit of a stir when it came out. It just wouldn't even make sense economically, let alone with the number of people you'd have to have involved...one guy per facility wouldn't cut it.
Not bad writing, but I'm not sure that I'll hurry to read another one of her books.
Not bad writing, but I'm not sure that I'll hurry to read another one of her books.
December 2, 2014
loved this book. great detective novel (even if Jo is slightly annoying, still kept me hooked!)
June 20, 2015
Why did I buy this? Because it was cheap and got good reviews.
What did I think of it? Not a great deal.
OK it worked for me - as a comedy. I think the author may have been aiming for shocking but because the characters seems so much like caricatures/cliches it fell kind of flat. Neither the police officer not the killer seemed remotely plausible. Also, a lot of the logistics of the "operation" were implausible. They would have made no money for many years. Its not as if they were going to be inundated with children needing new identities. The book was complete nonsense.
What did I think of it? Not a great deal.
OK it worked for me - as a comedy. I think the author may have been aiming for shocking but because the characters seems so much like caricatures/cliches it fell kind of flat. Neither the police officer not the killer seemed remotely plausible. Also, a lot of the logistics of the "operation" were implausible. They would have made no money for many years. Its not as if they were going to be inundated with children needing new identities. The book was complete nonsense.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews