While I do know I loved this book, I'm afraid of what that says about me. Do you fancy a murder romp?
Two revenge serial killers are taking out a list of bad guys. Mobsters, hired guns, rapists, drug dealers - in other words, the scum of the earth. Yay!
It's vigilante action at its worst. Yes, I said worst. You see, the bad guys don't die quickly, or cleanly. Not without suffering, as their victims did. Yay - er - no, *cough, cough*, I think?
Am I really that immature? That unethical? I'm afraid I might be. Because repeated scenes where the evil men get tortured to death didn't trouble me. A.J. Scudiere is careful to win the reader's heartfelt sympathy for the serial killers before she really cuts loose. And to establish just how much these criminals deserve to die (the mafia types, and a few rapists and paedophiles along the way, not the vigilante criminals). And of course, the vigilantes have me rooting for them all the way, not to mention chuckling over the funny bits. (If you are at all politically correct, run away now. This book will trample your values.)
Ultimately, the person I sympathised with most was Owen, the lead FBI agent on the trail of serial killers he's not sure he really wants to catch, never mind his oath, or what the law says. If, that is, he can even manage it. Because the evidence, what there is of it, is making no sense.
Who wins? In terms of the outcome of the story, I'm not going to spoil it by telling you.
The answer is the reader wins. Because this is hugely entertaining, so long as your morality on revenge is at the level of, say an eight year-old, while your tolerance for gore is that of, say, an eight-year Vietnam veteran. And it has one of the very best, cleverest endings I have ever delighted in.
To read or not to read is your choice. I give it five stars. And I'm embarrassed about that.