Nattens synder

Deer Lake #1

by Tami Hoag

* This is an updated cover of this Kindle edition. *

A peaceful Minnesota town, where crime is something that just doesn’t happen, is about to face its worst nightmare. A young boy disappears. There are no witnesses, no clues—only a note, cleverly taunting, casually cruel. Has a cold-blooded kidnapper struck? Or is this the reawakening of a long-quiet serial killer?

A tough-minded investigator on her first, make-or-break case . . . A local cop who fears that big-city evils have come to stalk his small-town home . . . Together they are hunting for a madman who knows no bounds, to protect a town that may never feel safe again.

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Romantic Suspense, Mystery Thriller

369 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Tami Hoag is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—BITTER SEASON, COLD COLD HEART and THE 9TH GIRL. Renowned for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller list with NIGHT SINS, and each of her books since has been a bestseller.

She leads a double life in Palm Beach County, Florida where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Other interests include the study of psychology, and mixed martial arts fighting.


Visit her at www.tamihoag.com, Facebook.com/TamiHoag and on Twitter @TamiHoag

Reviews

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Absolutely LOVED it. Great story, kickass heroine, compelling writing.

Except...

Harrison Ford look-alike hero?





Yes, I'm shallow like that.

I hate it when authors do that. Please stop putting images in my head I don't want. Let my own imagination take care of that.

Oh well. At least he was an awesome broody a-hole....

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining romantic suspense story about an abduction of a young boy in the small town of Deer Lake, Minnesota. What really made the book was the interesting cast of characters which allowed for many potential suspects. I liked the setting of Deer Lake, a town where everyone seems to know everyone else’s business. The harsh weather conditions with extremely frigid temperatures added a good, bleak atmosphere to the story. The only disappointment was that the story didn’t completely wrap-up by the end. It continues in the follow-up book, Guilty as Sin.

[Carol Waters · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best line is on page 300;

"She breathed in the waxy scent of crayons and felt as if one had been driven through her heart."


Hah. I'm on page 404 and so far there have been three official clues and the MOST TEDIOUS characters. The woman who broke the sex barrier for females in her position in law enforcement broke her "no dating cops" rule and slept with the chief the second day she knew him, putting her job at risk and looking like an idiot to all working women to boot. I no longer care about Josh, may he rest in peace. Really poor character development.

Finished it. Glad it's over. Ending was obviously either that the writer didn't know how to finish a book or a setup for a sequel. Women who have sex get punished. Men who have sex get punished. Ironically, the only place this writer seemed to care about her characters was when they were having sex and then she went on in great detail. She didn't mention how two people who were as unreliable and outspoken- loose cannons, dare I say- managed to advance in law enforcement. She didn't mention how the priest had such poor judgment yet kept his collar on. She didn't mention-- oh, never mind. It was a really long and pointless story with an unsatisfying ending.

[Jonetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

When an eight-year old boy goes missing from a small Minnesota town in the dead of winter, Special Agent Megan Malloy works to assist Mitch Holt, the town's chief of police, in locating him. She's newly promoted to the position as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's (BCA) regional agent and as the first woman in that role, she's also got a lot to prove.

There was a lot going on in this story in addition to solving the abduction. Megan has a fast and firm rule against dating cops and with sexism running rampant, she can ill afford a relationship with Mitch but they can't deny their attraction. He comes with quite a bit of baggage as well so this makes for a relationship already weighed down at the onset. Megan also has a huge boulder on her shoulder, borne from her own isolated childhood and career ambition. The parents of the abducted child are also at each other's throats as their precarious relationship starts tearing at the frayed seams. The local media has a separate agenda that interferes with the case and jeopardizes Megan's job. The town goes viral after one suspect after another is scrutinized.

The notion that Deer Lake is a sleepy, safe little town is also turned on its end. Secrets abound and the town has to face its vulnerabilities while the abductor remains at large. This story isn't just about the case but the human condition and its inherent frailties. Many relationships are examined and there are no perfect people in this story and there are many surprises. It's intriguing and I had a tough time putting it down.

Be forewarned that this is a two-book commitment as all is not resolved by the end of the story, which is a bit unfair. However, I had planned to read the second book, Guilty as Sin but not necessarily right away. Now, curiosity demands that I do so. Still, this book is worth it if you're interested in mystery, suspense, romance and a somewhat literary approach to the very many characters in this story.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best way I can describe this novel is pure disappointment. It seems the author got carried away with the numerous characters in this story and didn't know how to end the mystery. The final chapter was annoying in the sense that it left me completely hanging on why the kidnapping occurred, what the reasoning was behind the culprit and would the killer strike again? Hoag left the novel hanging so I figured a sequel might be written to extend the characters, but there isn't anything. I will not read more of her novels due to the bad taste this one left in my mouth...

[Nan Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written in 1995. I did not finish it because ...
The main character, Megan O'Malley, was newly assigned to replace a long time and beloved detective in small town Minnesota. Megan is well qualified with 10 years of experience and ample credentials, but seems determined to show the huge chip on her shoulder at every turn. She not only criticizes the investigative methods of the Chief (her boss!) but does so publicly. Again and again he acknowledges (in many concrete ways) that he respects her abilities, but she constantly is undermining his authority. And this is just in the first few HOURS that she has arrived!! And of course (common with books written in the 90s) he is constantly thinking about how he's going to get her into bed!

50 pages of that garbage was more than I could stand. The mystery might have been a good one, but I've got to have characters I like - decent, hard working detectives who are civil to each other.

Don't waste your time on this garbage.

[Petra · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars because I finished it -_-.
Spoilers, maybe, I don't know.
This book was horrible! I know it was written in the nineties but God!! were the nineties this bad?! The characters are all such stereotypes.The police chief who moved to a small town after his wife and son were murdered and swore never to get emotionally attached again, the female field agent with a crappy childhood and daddy issues, the stunning news reporter with no conscience who sleeps with people for a scoop. Rolling your eyes yet?


And let's get something clear, Mitch Holt is an asshole with anger issues and we are encouraged to think about him as the McDreamy of the police force. He is attracted to Megan and the first time she angers him he pinned her to a wall and stared at her chest then tried to kiss, and when she pushed him away he somehow made her feel bad. In their first fight after they sleep together he tells her that she doesn't know how to be a woman. Whenever he thinks about her, he laments the fact that he can't control her.




We are presented with Paul, the abusive cheating husband, but if you just take a second that five years from now Megan and Mitch will be Paul and Hannah. Oh, and let's not forget that he doesn't know how to do his job!!!! They lose precious time at the beginning because ". it's a safe town, bo children get kidnapped here" , he doesn't do a background check on a pretty shady character, and he doesn't verify the alibi of Paul. Ugh .
And the one thing that kept me going was the mystery. How was the plot you may ask, well I don't know what to tell you, because there is a second book ( which I'm not gonna read) and we have no clue what happened at the end of the book.



Awesome right?
Don't read this book. It's bad.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to borrow this book twice to finish it but it was well worth it! The book was published in 1996 but it doesn't feel old.

I liked the story but I don't understand Meg. She finally got the job she's been hoping to get and now risk that and her career!

I look forward to reading the second book.

[Georgia Zarkadaki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Το παρατησα. Δεν αντέχω, δεν συμβαίνει τίποτα. Η ηρωιδα είναι μια βλαμενη και ο ηρωας ενας βλακας.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly the book description was way better than the actual book. A young boy disappears from an ice rink in a small Minnesota town, prompting an investigation that shatters small town illusions. But this description with all its potential is as good as it gets. The characters are better described as caricatures and frankly any women should cringe at how Agent Megan O'Malley is represented. Repeatedly she makes bad decisions that go against everything that she believes in. Moreover for someone who is supposedly smart; her decisions are just plain dumb. The sexual relationship that develops instantaneously between Agent O'Malley of the BCA and the police chief of the small town is simply absurd and consequently the sex scenes between the two are gratuitous and cheap, doing nothing to advance the main plot. As for the main plot, poorly developed is an understatement. I have read other books by this author that were quite good, but this is not one of them. Cannot recommend.

[CD {Boulder Blvd} · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book and the second book in the series need to be read back to back. It's really one plot broken into two books based on the H/h romance. Well, not romance as it's definitely insta lust and sex. This book felt like it had a lot of filler which did not advance the plot or add to the characters' development. Plus it really ends with the plot unfinished which in my books, is a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers and serials. I like series, but not serials which leave me with the "this is incomplete and frustrating" feeling.

The plot is good but really felt like it should have been one book.


More later...

[Becca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up from the "free" exchange table at work thinking it was a crime thriller and not realizing the steamy romance aspect to the author's approach. Most of these sultry scenes seemed out of place in the plot and rather distracting but maybe that's just me. I got sucked in by the first scene told through the eye's of 8-yr-old Josh (mercifully without gratuitous sex) and read it to the end despite my frequent irritation.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is story of a missing eight-years boy Josh Kirkwood and his family and how the involved cops faced his mysterious disappearance.

The author managed to keep the suspense until the end (no spoilers here) and describing the main characters lives around this crime.


4* Down the Darkest Road (Oak Knoll, #3)
4* Night Sins (Deer Lake, #1)

[Michelle Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up one day at the library because I was intrigued by the description. Now I'm just glad I didn't pay for it. I thought this book was supposed to be a mystery, but the main characters were much more interested in each other than in finding a missing boy. Definitely not worth a read.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tami Hoag has written some decent novels, but alas, Night Sins does not fit into that category. This novel is ostensibly a mystery, set around the abduction of a young boy from a hockey rink in remote Deer Lake, MI. But what should be the focus of the plot, which might have been pretty compelling, takes second place to a romance that could not have been more of a cliche, but could have served well as two years of episodes for a TV soap opera. Sexy Megan O'Malley, a petite bundle of sass, breezes into town on assignment from the MI Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. As the Bureau's first female field officer, she's determined to make her mark, and she certainly does that. Over and over again. With anyone who notices she's a woman. Enough with the feminism already. When Megan meets Deer Lake's Chief of Police, the Harrison Fordian Mitch Holt, he's wearing red long johns for a winter pageant, and his outfit, of course, leaves nothing to the imagination. Sparks fly, but these two rub each other the wrong way, and it will take the entire book for them to give in to that old, impossible chemistry. The other major characters are also "types" : the verbally abusive husband, the warm and supportive neighbor, the chief's secretary who holds the department together with her strength of character, the abducted child's mom who's torn between the responsibilities of motherhood and of her job as ER physician.

Too bad Night Sins doesn't live up to its blurb. Could have, might have, just didn't.

[Zornitsa Rasim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Разкошен трилър! Продължавам с втора!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appropos of nothing, just a note to myself. Self: Be sure when you start glomming on a writer, you do a little research. If the book says “Series” check to see if the book is complete or one of those “to be continued” in the next book of this series. Saves a lot of heartache and banging one’s head on a desk repeatedly.

I guess I was expecting all the threads to be wrapped up in this book as Tami Hoag had done in her Kovac/Liska series. Not so, unfortunately. There are lots of incomplete threads hanging by the time I reached the ambiguous epilogue on page 541. Had I known these threads were continued in the NEXT Deer Lake book I would have made sure I had it on hand to read immediately after. So I guess I have only myself to blame for lack of research.

I was so hooked on trying to figure out the ‘whodunnit’ aspect that it didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t know for sure by the end of the book which I suppose says something as far as the suspense/mystery element, doesn’t it? However, this felt a bit, er, soap opera-ish at times as far as all the characters of Deer Lake which made it hard for me to care about all the personalities introduced. There were two or three I was very interested in, but some felt like it was an authorial sleight of hand game. A red herring thrown out to muddy the waters, but just a few too many.

Oddly, this seemed weighted more in the romantic thread between Megan O’Malley, a trail blazing agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as she is the first female field agent, and Deer Lake Police Chief Mitch Holt. Their meeting was an almost ‘meet cute’ scene (him wearing a pair of longjohns, dancing on a makeshift stage, a soft shoe no less, with a rather rotund partner in the same gear, while singing in an exaggerated Norwegian accent ‘Itch a little here. Scratch a little dere. Valkin’ in my vinter underwear.’ Apparently he and his weighty partner are in rehearsal for a Minnesota event called unsurprisingly “Snowdaze.”) Of course by the end which spans only a 2 week period of time Megan and Mitch have decided they cannot live without each other and he’s asked her to marry him. I’ll just let that sit there for your pondering. But for me that romance is a little hasty. And it did distract from the meat of the story - a kidnapped young boy. As I said, soap opera-ish.

However, I was interested enough to go out and find the next damned book in this series because I have to know if the priest and the doctor are going to declare for each other, the fate of the young boy that was kidnapped, all the whys and wherefores related to his kidnapping and those mysterious diary/journal entires addressed as “we” that prefaced some of the chapters implying there is more than one wolf in the hen house.

[Mariana Lis · Rating 2 out of 5]

É uma obra excessivamente longa para a história que quer contar, mais ainda se considerarmos que o mistério se prolonga para uma segunda parte (Deer Lake #2 - A Mão do Pecado, ou no original: Guilty as Sin). O suspense desdobra-se em largas passadas, minuciosamente trabalhadas e até intensas, ainda que com um ligeiro aroma a naftalina. Há demasiados momentos que surgem como flagrante desculpa para que os coprotagonistas (a noviça Megan O’Malley e o polícia Mitch Holt) se envolvam física e psicologicamente, e as páginas da sua intimidade e do conflito ético-moral acabam por se sobrepor ao caos que invadiu a comunidade sossegada de Deer Lake, e isso de uma maneira demasiadamente exploratória e gratuita, quase forçada.

Na narrativa, é muito claro como o romance entre Megan e Holt é prejudicial ao mistério. Para o leitor, torna-se principalmente cansativo e em boa medida angustiante face a uma história de suspense que funcionaria muito melhor sem a constante perda de ritmo imposta por uma fraca história de amor. Não ajuda o facto de Megan, enquanto heroína, ser uma personagem tão dificilmente gostável. As privações porque alegadamente terá passado, a ideia de mulher independente que ostenta e a couraça de lutadora que a própria afirma envergar não se sustentam face à imaturidade com que continuamente lida com as situações mais mundanas – falamos de uma mulher que, só nas primeira horas de serviço, numa terra estranha e num ambiente profissional hostil, tem como primeiro instinto humilhar e desafiar a autoridade do seu superior, logo sucumbindo a vislumbres de uma boa noite de lascívia. Ninguém conhece melhor a atração física, muitas vezes imediata, de um homem e de uma mulher como Tami Hoag, mas a verdade é que desapareceu uma criança de oito anos e Megan é, supostamente, a melhor detective do Minnesota. Em menos páginas e com uma boa dose de subtileza, Hoag consegue construir momentos de intimidade muito mais estimulantes para personagens secundárias, cuja dimensão humana, mais ou menos distorcida, acresce à medida que o drama se vai desenrolando.

A ideia de “jogo” é desafiadora e gostei de como a autora a começa a trabalhar no mistério. Por essa razão, e porque não consigo deixar uma história a meio, darei uma vista de olhos à sequela. Há demasiadas personagens que ficaram por conhecer e impõe-se um desenlace.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read quite a lot of books by this author and have always preferred her crime novels to her earlier romance novels...yet somehow this book manages to combine the two to good effect. The story is set over twelve or so days, starting with the arrival of Megan O'Malley, the new BCA agent assigned to a small town. Within hours of her arrival, a young boy is abducted. As the kidnapper plays with the police, essentially influencing the investigation in one direction, then another, the whole town is dragged into the hunt. The relationship between Megan and the police chief smoulders away to an inevitable conclusion, while they go after first one suspect, then another.

I have to say, I really liked it. Yes, the 'romance' between the two main characters is a bit clichéd, but only in the same way that every chic-lit book on the market is clichéd. The character of Paul Kirkwood is also a bit over the top, but it is good to hate him. I actually thought all the characters were written well, providing plenty to root for and plenty to dislike. I usually prefer crime novels where the reader is privy to more clues than the characters, but this was done in such a way that the reader was led down the wrong avenues too.

So, overall, a great read that I enjoyed so much that I went straight on to the sequel to find out what really happened.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great! I picked it up, and from that point on I couldn't put it down. It was fast paced with a lot of suspense and it kept me guessing until the last few chapters as to who the criminal was.

There was a nice romantic element to the story, and I really fell in love with some of the characters. There were also characters that Hoag forced you to love to hate. I couldn't help disliking them, I actually enjoyed hating them and kept wishing dreadful things on them lol. But I think that's a mark of a great writer. It's one thing to have a writer influence you to like a hero or a heroine, but it's an entirely different matter to put down a book and admit that you loved hating a character. I despised that damn reporter Price, and yet yeah, I still wanted to know what stupid asinine thing she would say next.

Fantastic book.

I was a little pissed that it ended sort of on a cliffhanger.. I'm hoping there are other books that relate back to this storyline. I have to check on that.

This was my first book by Tami Hoag, but it won't be the last one.

[Magpie67 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book strictly for the cat and mouse chase. The everyday pursuit and what police and agents must do to wade through the clues was where the games began for me. I had two sets of whodunit and with the explosive writing of Tami Hoag they changed continuously. I knew the moment only one was in jail that "We" would be dropping off the kid. I could feel the sequel was coming and I was thrilled!!!! Tami had me turning the pages faster towards the end with the thrill of the hunt. The clues, the notes left behind were tantalizing! What do we really know about our neighbors should be the theme of this book. What lurks behind the doors that we are unaware about? That is the question. Will this town ever be the same? Could your own town come back after a church zealot nut and a pedophile carried so many secrets? Wow! Great story! 5 Stars!

[Livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good thriller! I read it ages ago and only thought of it tonight when a buddy told me she started reading a Tami Hoag novel. I remember being excited when Night Sins was adapted for the small screen starring Valerie Bertinelli and Harry Hamlin. I gobbled up the sequel before the movie adaptation premiered on February 23, 1997.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner for sure. Sigh now I need to find the next book.

[Stargazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

bit cheesey in parts but so glad of it, nowt else to read!

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

540 pages of sub-zero chills as a small Minnesota town searchs for a missing boy. Strong female characters, lots of suspense and romance.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great realistic cop drama. And when there was not much action casewise there was enough bedroom action to keep you reading.

[BookCrazy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bloody awful book full of stereotype characters and ad nauseam tropes. How did this make it to the best seller list?

I was handed this book while waiting at an airport. The person had just finished it and said that the book wasn't a bad read. Maybe I misunderstood and the person said it was a bad read? I was bored so I read it on a long flight. Wish I hadn't.

All the stock characters are here. The strong female cop with daddy issues trying to make it in a man's world, who falls for the local police chief who hasn't loved anyone since his wife and only son died (and he blames himself....blah, blah, blah).

A madman (or men) kidnap a child and all the wrong people are suspected and arrested. Meanwhile lots of dirty secrets in the town are exposed, including affairs. And the kidnappers think they are better than anyone else leaving clues along the way that maybe the cops could figure out if the main characters weren't busy have sex (badly, badly written scenes) or yelling sexist remarks at each other, or sleeping with the wanna be star reporter. Then there is the priest who is trying to help out, but questions his faith and is in love with the mother of the kidnapped child.

I would spoil the ending, but there is no point. Save yourself and read anything else.

[Christa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.

I knew within the first two pages that I was not going to be able to take this book seriously. The purple prose in the first few chapters contained such gems as:

“His breath came out of his mouth and went up around his head like smoke from a chimney”

“They flung themselves off the steps like mountain goats leaping from ledge to ledge”

“The scarf was like a python twisting itself around her neck”

“Her skin was the color of polished mahogany, her face as round as a pumpkin and crowned with a fine cap of black curls that looked like the wool of a newly shorn sheep (three, count them, THREE similes in one sentence!).”

And my favorite:

“‘My wife is dead,’ he said, his voice a hard, cold whisper, the emotional shields coming up around him like iron bars... (this one immediately conjured a mental image of Picard at the bridge of the Enterprise shouting “Shields up! Red alert!”) Nearly two years had passed and the words still tasted like the glue of postage stamps, bitter and acrid... He fielded sympathy as awkwardly as a shortstop with a catcher’s mitt.”

Postage stamps??

Sigh.
I giggled my way through the alternatively bizarre or overused figurative language in the first few chapters and then decided I wasn’t stoned enough to persevere any further.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

NIGHT SINS - Ex
Hoag, Tami - 1st in Deer lake series

Deer Lake is a small Minnesota town where people know their neighbours and crime is something that happens on the evening news. But the illusion of safety is shattered when eight-year-old Josh Kirkwood disappears from a hockey rink as he waits for his mother to pick him up after practice. The only thing the police find is his duffel bag with a note stuffed inside, `Ignorance is not innocence but SIN`. With each passing hour the search for Josh takes on a more ominus intensity. For Megan O`Malley, the new regional officer of the state criminal investigative unit, it is a test of whether she can cut it in the all-male world of local cops. For police chief Mitch Holt, it is a frightening reminder of the big city crime that devastated his life before he fled to Deer Lake.

1996 Top Read - I really liked this; it had enjoyable characters and kept me reading. I've become a big fan of hers.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has the feel of a book from the 70's or 80 with the sterotypes. Hard nosed agent trying to prove herself among the guys with her new assignment but she needs rescuing by the man she swears she won't get involved with. How did she make it this far with her short temper that causes her to lose her cool again and again and again. Women can be competent and do their jobs professionally but our main character leaves you cringing with her behavior sometimes.
Having said that, the plot was well done. I had no idea who did it or what the outcome would be and every new twist had you anxious for more insights. The romance angle could have been left out completely and improved the flow but that's a minor flaw.
This was my first time reading this author and I look forward to reading more. P.S. leave the romance out!