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Detective Jill Jackson #1
Vodka Doesn't Freeze
When a middle-aged man is brutally murdered in the dunes overlooking a children's pool, it's immediately clear to Sergeant Jill Jackson that this was no ordinary victim: someone has stopped a dangerous paedophile in his tracks. Knowing first-hand the impact of such men on their prey, Jill is ambivalent about pursuing the killer, but when more men die - all known to police as child sex offenders - she is forced to face the fact that a serial killer is on the loose.
As the investigation deepens, Jill unearths a long-established Sydney paedophile ring - a club of wealthy men who have thought until now that that they are untouchable. Despite the deaths of some of its members, the club is still operating and until Jill can shut it down, children are still in grave danger. As she faces predators and their victims, a psychotherapist losing her mind, and her own nightmares come to life, Jill is forced to decide whether or not she really wants to catch this killer.
As the investigation deepens, Jill unearths a long-established Sydney paedophile ring - a club of wealthy men who have thought until now that that they are untouchable. Despite the deaths of some of its members, the club is still operating and until Jill can shut it down, children are still in grave danger. As she faces predators and their victims, a psychotherapist losing her mind, and her own nightmares come to life, Jill is forced to decide whether or not she really wants to catch this killer.
322 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
7 people are currently reading
896 people want to read
About the author
Leah Giarratano
10 books74 followersDr Leah Giarratano has had a long career as a clinical psychologist. Her professional background offers a unique selling point in this genre and gives an authenticity to her writing. Leah is an expert in psychological trauma, sex offences and psychopathology and has had many years assessing psychopaths and treating their victims.
She has worked in psychiatric hospitals, with the defence force, and in the corrections system with offenders who suffer severe personality disorders. She has assessed and treated survivors of just about every imaginable psychological trauma, including: hostages; war veterans; rape, assault and accident victims; and has worked with police, fire and ambulance officers.
In 2009 Leah began her television career, presenting Channel 7’s top rating Beyond the Darklands program, on which Leah was the expert psychologist who delved into the psyche of Australia’s most fearsome criminals.
She has worked in psychiatric hospitals, with the defence force, and in the corrections system with offenders who suffer severe personality disorders. She has assessed and treated survivors of just about every imaginable psychological trauma, including: hostages; war veterans; rape, assault and accident victims; and has worked with police, fire and ambulance officers.
In 2009 Leah began her television career, presenting Channel 7’s top rating Beyond the Darklands program, on which Leah was the expert psychologist who delved into the psyche of Australia’s most fearsome criminals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
July 22, 2015
I’m struggling a bit with how to rate this book. The first half was quite patchy and disjointed with different voices telling their part of the story and felt like it needed a good edit to make it more cohesive. It was almost as if the author was trying to put too many ideas and situations into the book which deals with child abduction, pedophilia, and child pornography. As the main characters we have a female cop who was herself abducted and abused as a child, a psychotherapist who is feeling overwhelmed by her child sex abuse patients and a man who runs a pedophile ring and his unpleasant off-sider as the main characters. I found it difficult to feel connected to these characters early in the book but once the story all came together later on and concentrated on the main thread it was much better and I finally felt interested in where the story was going. There was also the bonus of an unexpected ending.
June 13, 2013
When Sergeant Jill Jackson was called out on her day off by Scotty, her partner, she didn’t expect it to be the beginning of a violent few weeks. But the murder of a man in his 40s in the sand dunes, overlooking young children swimming and playing in the sand set alarm bells off in her mind. It also caused her own terrible nightmares to resurface. For a camera with horrifying images on it, lying beside a man with his fly open, gave them all the realization that he wasn’t just sunbaking.
After more men were found brutally murdered, all men who were on the child sex offenders register, the police investigators came to the conclusion that someone was doing their job; taking the dangerous paedophiles off the street. They had a serial killer on the loose…but should they apprehend him? After all, he was doing a great service to the safety of the children of their community.
As the investigation dug deeper, the paedophile ring which was operating in Sydney became apparent. But finding the ring-leader was proving to be difficult, and shutting the gang down was a priority. Jill was in danger, her past was catching up with her, and her OCD seemed to be taking over. But she was determined to catch this group, whatever the cost. Would she be able to shut it down before more children were harmed? Was her own life on the line?
An absolutely gripping thriller from Aussie author Leah Giarratano, the first in the Jill Jackson series. The pace was intense, the violence sensational, the plot brilliant! I have no hesitation in recommending this one highly.
After more men were found brutally murdered, all men who were on the child sex offenders register, the police investigators came to the conclusion that someone was doing their job; taking the dangerous paedophiles off the street. They had a serial killer on the loose…but should they apprehend him? After all, he was doing a great service to the safety of the children of their community.
As the investigation dug deeper, the paedophile ring which was operating in Sydney became apparent. But finding the ring-leader was proving to be difficult, and shutting the gang down was a priority. Jill was in danger, her past was catching up with her, and her OCD seemed to be taking over. But she was determined to catch this group, whatever the cost. Would she be able to shut it down before more children were harmed? Was her own life on the line?
An absolutely gripping thriller from Aussie author Leah Giarratano, the first in the Jill Jackson series. The pace was intense, the violence sensational, the plot brilliant! I have no hesitation in recommending this one highly.
January 8, 2017
Šo grāmatu pievienoju TBR saraksta 2014.gadā, kad mani visvairāk piesaistīja tieši darba nosaukums un tas, ka galvenā varone, izmeklētāja ir sieviete. Kad sāku lasīt, pat īsti nepārlasīju anotāciju, tāpēc sākot lasīt jutos nedaudz pārsteigta, kāpēc biju tādu grāmatu ievietojusi lasāmo sarakstā. Šis ir no tiem darbiem, kas atspoguļo skarbu, bet patiesu realitāti, ko vēl vairāk apstiprina autore biogrāfija, ko izlasot beigās jutu vēl smagāku sajūtu krūtīs.
Galvenās varone ir pašpārliecināta, stipra un apņēmīga, bet tai pat laikā viņas raksturā slēpjas bailes un nedrošība, kas saistīta ar pagātnes notikumiem, kas atklājas sižeta gaitā. Viņas tēls piešķir stāstam dziļi personisku stāstījumu, kas sasaistīts ar nozieguma līniju.
Autore dziļi ielūkojas noslepkavoto pedofilu domu gājienos un pēdējos dzīves mirkļos, kas liek tirpām pārskriet pār ādu. Lai arī šis nav pirmais darbs, ko lasu, kurā parādās šādi personāži, šoreiz tie šķita rādīja vairāk emociju.
Pilna atsauksme https://juljetas.wordpress.com/2016/0...
Galvenās varone ir pašpārliecināta, stipra un apņēmīga, bet tai pat laikā viņas raksturā slēpjas bailes un nedrošība, kas saistīta ar pagātnes notikumiem, kas atklājas sižeta gaitā. Viņas tēls piešķir stāstam dziļi personisku stāstījumu, kas sasaistīts ar nozieguma līniju.
Autore dziļi ielūkojas noslepkavoto pedofilu domu gājienos un pēdējos dzīves mirkļos, kas liek tirpām pārskriet pār ādu. Lai arī šis nav pirmais darbs, ko lasu, kurā parādās šādi personāži, šoreiz tie šķita rādīja vairāk emociju.
Pilna atsauksme https://juljetas.wordpress.com/2016/0...
September 10, 2022
Overall the book was quite enjoyable even thought it contained many vile and disgusting themes. Quite a few times I found myself with my mouth wide open in disgust to what I was reading. Good pacing and the characters were interesting. But, the ending of the book was very disappointing. It felt rushed and less played out than a lot of other sections of the book. Even with the surprise second ending which could of been expanded upon or even led to a second book of Jill Jackson it finished abruptly. Also the epilogue felt like a complete after thought and added in to tie up loose ends. Overall could of been a great book but the ending let it down, however that’s just my opinion and you find out for yourself!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2013
I had been looking for a book set specifically in Australia, but no particular genre. The title grabbed my attention and the description hooked me in. Mind you, I had put my local public library to go to a bit of trouble getting my copy. They kindly had a copy set to me from another library in a completely different State...all the way from Las Vegas Nevada! That's 420 miles away and at no cost to me at all. (We are lucky to have a splendid library system here!)
Was the story worth going to such trouble? YES!
Without synopsizing the story (I really don't care for book reviews that detail a story too much) I'll say that the characters, their machinations and motivations were all well formed. Being a psychiatrist, the author has a keen insight into the inner criminal mind. One character in particular, a smarmy villain named Jamaal Mahmoud is fleshed out quite effectively.
However, there were some points that I didn't care for, both in plot and structure. Firstly, I found myself skimming over many areas that added nothing to the plot but really slow the story down... scenes with Jill Jackson's family, long stretches about her feelings, etc. (I'm a guy, I don't care about that) I also thought bits were predictable, and a scene involving the abduction of a 12 year old boy off the street into a van seemed unoriginal. Also, I thought the Epilogue was unnecessary and a mistake. The author should have left the door open for the return of a key character.
I was flip flopping between rating this 3 or 4 stars. Considering it is the authors first published book, and quite well done, I'll give it a 4 star reward for it's overall success as a character driven psychological thriller.
Was the story worth going to such trouble? YES!
Without synopsizing the story (I really don't care for book reviews that detail a story too much) I'll say that the characters, their machinations and motivations were all well formed. Being a psychiatrist, the author has a keen insight into the inner criminal mind. One character in particular, a smarmy villain named Jamaal Mahmoud is fleshed out quite effectively.
However, there were some points that I didn't care for, both in plot and structure. Firstly, I found myself skimming over many areas that added nothing to the plot but really slow the story down... scenes with Jill Jackson's family, long stretches about her feelings, etc. (I'm a guy, I don't care about that) I also thought bits were predictable, and a scene involving the abduction of a 12 year old boy off the street into a van seemed unoriginal. Also, I thought the Epilogue was unnecessary and a mistake. The author should have left the door open for the return of a key character.
I was flip flopping between rating this 3 or 4 stars. Considering it is the authors first published book, and quite well done, I'll give it a 4 star reward for it's overall success as a character driven psychological thriller.
July 2, 2008
Leah Giarratano is a trauma psychologist based in Sydney. Among her clients have been victims of sexual abuse and men serving sentences for child abuse. VODKA DOESN’T FREEZE is her first novel. I had the good fortune to hear Giarratano speak last year. She talked about the book being cathartic for her. She regarded it as an exercise to purge herself of bottled up emotions. She never expected a publisher to accept it.
VODKA DOESN’T FREEZE isn’t an easy book. It is a very dark subject Giarratano writes about. A subject that is difficult to explore. However, the reader who can make it through is rewarded. It offers some insights in ways perhaps not expected by the author or the reader. Yes, it does demonstrate how different people deal with being sexually abused, but what I found was that perhaps inadvertently the author has shown something of the emotional toll taken on professionals who deal with sex offenders in their working life.
VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE is a nomination for the 2008 Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Fiction and a well deserved one.
June 9, 2010
It was not a bad book but what irked was the main character being assaulted not once but twice in 48 hours and it seemed to add nothing to the story line except to say she is female and vulnerable or it was an excuse to get her home and resting with the family or it was an excuse to bring out the characters tortured past. Made me think this character, apart from carrying a lot of baggage is almost incapable of functioning and it really did weaken her for me. I was not looking for her to being a hero but to be completely unaware of your surroundings, especially with the second attack and when the character is so hell bent on her own personal security all the time, just did not make sense.
Apart from that a good read but would recommend for people with young kids as it is will probably make you never let them out again.
Apart from that a good read but would recommend for people with young kids as it is will probably make you never let them out again.
April 14, 2025
WARNING: This book is not for the faint of heart. So if you think this book sounds good to you, be warned - the story contains pedophillia, brief mentions of torture/slayings, POV's of pedophiles etc. it's a heavy book.
When a middle-aged man is brutally murdered in the dunes overlooking a children's pool, it's immediately clear to Sergeant Jill Jackson that this was no ordinary victim: someone has stopped a dangerous predator in his tracks.
Sergeant Jill Jackson has her own nightmares while she's trying to hunt & uncover the darkness with these serial killings.
Despite the darkness & heaviness of the content in this book; it's very well written, & Leah Giarratano has done an excellent job with this book - some of the things mentioned or written in this book may be based on true crimes that have happened, she has written them in a way that it still shocks you but I found to still be sympathetic towards the victims. The story left me with wanting more to this story.
I would 100% read more of Leah Giarratano books
When a middle-aged man is brutally murdered in the dunes overlooking a children's pool, it's immediately clear to Sergeant Jill Jackson that this was no ordinary victim: someone has stopped a dangerous predator in his tracks.
Sergeant Jill Jackson has her own nightmares while she's trying to hunt & uncover the darkness with these serial killings.
Despite the darkness & heaviness of the content in this book; it's very well written, & Leah Giarratano has done an excellent job with this book - some of the things mentioned or written in this book may be based on true crimes that have happened, she has written them in a way that it still shocks you but I found to still be sympathetic towards the victims. The story left me with wanting more to this story.
I would 100% read more of Leah Giarratano books
December 19, 2015
‘Vodka Doesn’t Freeze’ kicks off with the brutal murder of a man with his pants down. Upon investigation it becomes evident that he was a paedophile. Soon, more men are murdered and the common denominator that links them is their membership in a club for paedophiles.
The heavy topic of paedophelia is written very realistically. No morbid details are spared – everything is laid out in an honest way, thus giving you a sense of horror. The villains are written in such a way where their sleaziness and disgusting behaviours are completely believable, hence it’s easy to instantly dislike them and anticipate their destruction. As for the main character Jill, she seemed to be someone who’s supposed to be smart and tough but I quickly changed my mind because she was attacked twice within a day or two and a few more times in the book. Getting attacked in that line of work is not unusual but Jill seemed to be an easy, constant victim – not what I’d expect from someone who works out a lot and has fighting abilities.
I didn’t like how most of the book was about Jill’s dark past. I’ve noticed the tendency of many books to feature a protagonist with a mysterious, difficult or dark past and it’s getting stale. It also isn’t necessary to keep reminding the reader that Jill has suffered and she’s haunted by the memories. When I read crime books, I read them for the crime, not for the character hence the steady bombardment related to her traumatic experience was unnecessary. It was also pointless to keep reminding the reader that Jill always works out and to tell us that she jogs, runs etc or that she has a flat, concave stomach. It’s better to keep it simple and say she practices a healthy lifestyle and is in shape and end it there.
As for the cases, they were interesting but bogged down by the constant shift in perspectives. Sometimes the story is told from Jill’s perspective or the paedophiles or the paedophiles running a ring, Mercy etc. It seemed to lack focus and was distracting. Meanwhile, I felt that the police focused too much on finding out those who are in the paedophile ring rather than tracking down the killer. Of course, as mentioned in the book itself, there’s the question of whether one should even catch the killer since they’re getting rid of absolutely disgusting immoral perverts. However, when you’re investigating, you’re supposed to be objective and the main aim should be figuring out who the killer is. They didn’t seem to study things like how the crime was committed, force of the blows and narrowing it down to who could have done those. Basically it just felt all over the place - instead of looking for the killer, they ended up focusing on the paedophile ring.
The twist towards the end was something unexpected to me but it only reminded me again that they really didn’t focus on catching the one who killed those paedophiles. If . It’s just ridiculous that the police didn’t find out who did it but they had it handed to them on a silver platter.
Overall, it was a decent book but the investigation aspect was pretty mediocre.
The heavy topic of paedophelia is written very realistically. No morbid details are spared – everything is laid out in an honest way, thus giving you a sense of horror. The villains are written in such a way where their sleaziness and disgusting behaviours are completely believable, hence it’s easy to instantly dislike them and anticipate their destruction. As for the main character Jill, she seemed to be someone who’s supposed to be smart and tough but I quickly changed my mind because she was attacked twice within a day or two and a few more times in the book. Getting attacked in that line of work is not unusual but Jill seemed to be an easy, constant victim – not what I’d expect from someone who works out a lot and has fighting abilities.
I didn’t like how most of the book was about Jill’s dark past. I’ve noticed the tendency of many books to feature a protagonist with a mysterious, difficult or dark past and it’s getting stale. It also isn’t necessary to keep reminding the reader that Jill has suffered and she’s haunted by the memories. When I read crime books, I read them for the crime, not for the character hence the steady bombardment related to her traumatic experience was unnecessary. It was also pointless to keep reminding the reader that Jill always works out and to tell us that she jogs, runs etc or that she has a flat, concave stomach. It’s better to keep it simple and say she practices a healthy lifestyle and is in shape and end it there.
As for the cases, they were interesting but bogged down by the constant shift in perspectives. Sometimes the story is told from Jill’s perspective or the paedophiles or the paedophiles running a ring, Mercy etc. It seemed to lack focus and was distracting. Meanwhile, I felt that the police focused too much on finding out those who are in the paedophile ring rather than tracking down the killer. Of course, as mentioned in the book itself, there’s the question of whether one should even catch the killer since they’re getting rid of absolutely disgusting immoral perverts. However, when you’re investigating, you’re supposed to be objective and the main aim should be figuring out who the killer is. They didn’t seem to study things like how the crime was committed, force of the blows and narrowing it down to who could have done those. Basically it just felt all over the place - instead of looking for the killer, they ended up focusing on the paedophile ring.
The twist towards the end was something unexpected to me but it only reminded me again that they really didn’t focus on catching the one who killed those paedophiles. If . It’s just ridiculous that the police didn’t find out who did it but they had it handed to them on a silver platter.
Overall, it was a decent book but the investigation aspect was pretty mediocre.
May 20, 2017
Another book I read while on vacation. I liked the main character (Jill Jackson) quite a bit, despite or maybe because, she is so flawed. She seems to race into things without clearly thinking through the consequences. I will admit however, that the crime(s) are tough to contemplate and I'll put a notation here because it's not a spoiler. The main crimes revolve around a child sex ring. Thankfully they don't go into graphic detail but it was still a difficult subject. Despite that, the ending had an unexpected twist and I will read the next in the series to see if I like this character enough to add it to my ongoing series repertoire.
September 23, 2009
I bought this book as i watched beyond the dark lands and a heard the chick on there wrote novels. I had mixed feelings about this read. It had me pretty sucked in to the story for most of the way but toward the end i kind of lost me. It felt far fetched and predictable. Which was a shame as i did really enjoy it up till then. I still recomend it as a read and i will proberly check out the other 2 book Leah done, but like i said above the events leading to the end of the book just lost me to be honest.
June 23, 2013
Two stars for what was a storyline that had so much potential.
The writing however, was horrible at best. I'm quite partial to novels that opt to swap character perspectives each chapter, but swapping between perspectives within one chapter multiple times made the book disjointed. It had no flow, it was slow and there was no real depth to any of the characters.
I wanted to like this book, but it just didn't hold my attention at all.
The writing however, was horrible at best. I'm quite partial to novels that opt to swap character perspectives each chapter, but swapping between perspectives within one chapter multiple times made the book disjointed. It had no flow, it was slow and there was no real depth to any of the characters.
I wanted to like this book, but it just didn't hold my attention at all.
February 19, 2014
This is really 3.5 stars...
Everyone is going on about this book being graphic and disturbing and I actually found it more disturbing how it didn't reveal so much as conceal. Maybe I'm just jaded from reading Mo Hayder's books, but I didn't think there was too much gross detail in this, thank the Gods. haha.
Tight writing, harrowing subject matter and a nicely constructed story.
Everyone is going on about this book being graphic and disturbing and I actually found it more disturbing how it didn't reveal so much as conceal. Maybe I'm just jaded from reading Mo Hayder's books, but I didn't think there was too much gross detail in this, thank the Gods. haha.
Tight writing, harrowing subject matter and a nicely constructed story.
April 30, 2021
This was your typical run-of-the-mill crime book. I found it hard to get into as I didn't particularly like any of the characters and found the writing a bit clunky.
I've had it on my bookshelf since 2018 so I was determined to read it. I found a bookmark at page 93 so clearly I'd read a big chunk at some point and gave up.
I've had it on my bookshelf since 2018 so I was determined to read it. I found a bookmark at page 93 so clearly I'd read a big chunk at some point and gave up.
November 17, 2014
The story was OK, but it was difficult to read the Kindle edition, as it had so many missing spaces between words in which two words ran together into one word. It wasvery distracting anddisrupted the flowof the story! Seewhat I mean?
July 6, 2014
A great debut novel! It had a big twist at the end that I didn't see coming which I always appreciate when reading a crime novel. It was relateable as it is set in Sydney. Makes you question what you do and don't know about those around you.
January 11, 2015
All I kept thinking when I read this was book the main character has got to be the worst cop ever! The writer didn't write her very well and she's actually a little unlikeable. It was an easy read and that's the only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1.
February 10, 2009
disturbing and a little predictable but certainly worth the read
August 5, 2011
poor jill... she copped a lot, hopefully in voodoo dolls, she won't get as beaten up as much...
September 27, 2012
Great to read an Aussie detective crime thriller....enjoyed
November 9, 2012
A crime story that deals with paedophilia, quite disturbing. The author is a trauma psychologist.and some details I would have preferred not to know. A good book if messy brutal crime appeals
January 29, 2013
The middle of this book had me hooked, but the end was monumentally whiffed.
June 26, 2013
A good read but a horrible subject.
May 6, 2015
tried the 1st book in the series by this author, liked it fairly well though it was disturbing to read about kids being molested!!
March 2, 2018
Didn't enjoy this book at all. Badly written grammatically. Superficial characters who were all pretty dislikeable. Couldn't wait to put it down but had to read for a book club.
August 6, 2018
Great setting, ok mystery. Will probably continue the series.
October 24, 2017
4.5 stars. This Aussie crime drama was everything the seemingly more popular Hades wasn't: realistic, thoroughly researched, gritty, tense and engrossing, with a main character you can relate to and sympathise with. Sgt Jill Jackson is the survivor of horrible childhood abuse who now must face her emotional demons as she investigates the deaths of several known pedophiles. She must ask herself - as we all might - does she really care who killed these monstrous men as long as they can no longer commit their heinous crimes? The investigation brings her ever closer to a well organised, sleazy (you have to say evil) pedophile ring, the destroying of which seems like a much better use of police resources.
Vodka Doesn't Freeze isn't for the faint of heart if you're sensitive to abuse storylines. I am and usually avoid this subject matter but this was well done and ultimately cathartic for both Jill and the reader. I'm going to steel my nerve and read the next book in this series because a realistic, tough yet damaged, intelligent Australian female detective is hard to find out there. I'm glad I found Jill Jackson.
Vodka Doesn't Freeze isn't for the faint of heart if you're sensitive to abuse storylines. I am and usually avoid this subject matter but this was well done and ultimately cathartic for both Jill and the reader. I'm going to steel my nerve and read the next book in this series because a realistic, tough yet damaged, intelligent Australian female detective is hard to find out there. I'm glad I found Jill Jackson.
November 23, 2017
Vodka Doesn't Freeze by Leah Giarrantano is a Murder Mystery with hard hitting storyline.
Sergeant Jill Jackson is investigating a brutal murder.
The victim is a dangerous known paedophile.
As the investigation deepens, Jill unearths a paedophile ring that has been establish for many years.
The members are being killed off and they are known child sex offenders to the Police.
There is a serial killer on the loose.
Jill is detemined to close down the paedophile ring and ensure the safety of the children,
who are not safe until they are stopped.
Jill comes face to face with these predators.
Will she stop them?
Will she find the killer?
Will she survive?
This is a brutally honest book that may shock you with it's descriptions,
but well worth reading.
Sergeant Jill Jackson is investigating a brutal murder.
The victim is a dangerous known paedophile.
As the investigation deepens, Jill unearths a paedophile ring that has been establish for many years.
The members are being killed off and they are known child sex offenders to the Police.
There is a serial killer on the loose.
Jill is detemined to close down the paedophile ring and ensure the safety of the children,
who are not safe until they are stopped.
Jill comes face to face with these predators.
Will she stop them?
Will she find the killer?
Will she survive?
This is a brutally honest book that may shock you with it's descriptions,
but well worth reading.
November 18, 2024
Albeit having a pretty interesting and different delivery format with usual crime/mystery books, I find this book not-so-enjoyable for a few reasons.
First, the writing style. The point of view jumps all the time with little to no distinction, and it gets kind of overwhelming after sometime.
Second, the character. Jill gets assaulted multiple times, and she's still very unaware of her surroundings, having no backup whatsoever when doing things, get assaulted again because of that, and repeat. I don't feel like she's competent enough, or maybe she's just bad at planning things and always ended up hurting herself.
And the anticlimatic ending. God.
First, the writing style. The point of view jumps all the time with little to no distinction, and it gets kind of overwhelming after sometime.
Second, the character. Jill gets assaulted multiple times, and she's still very unaware of her surroundings, having no backup whatsoever when doing things, get assaulted again because of that, and repeat. I don't feel like she's competent enough, or maybe she's just bad at planning things and always ended up hurting herself.
And the anticlimatic ending. God.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2024
Debut novel of Leah Giarrantano - with her main character Det Jill Jackson and her partner Scotty are called to the death of a man, but the location and manner of death creeps Jackson out, the view of the beach and young children, the camera - all points to a pedophile - with her initial assumptions correct as more victims are discovered and all linked to a specific 'group' - does Jill really want to catch this killer, who is eliminating those who abuse and kill innocent children - ridding the world of deviants that have no remorse of the hurt and ongoing trauma of the victims - like herself.
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