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meeklovestoread's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I randomly saw this book being recommended on a bookstagram reel. The poster said this was the type of book where you could clearly visualize everything. And the synopsis sounded so cool and I'm such a sucker for unique concepts especially when it comes to thriller novels so I picked it up.
Note this book is told in dual POV, the killer, and Eddie Flynn. When I first saw this book, I thought it was a standalone, but I later found that it was the 4th book in a series but the original poster noted that they read this as a standalone so I proceeded to do the same. And after reading this book, I agree you could read this as a standalone and be fine.
As for the story, honestly, I'm such a sucker for court cases in shows. Law & Order SVU is one of my favorite shows, so it was nice to see all that in book form and so much more. This book definitely made me want to get more into legal thrillers.
This book was crazy! From start to finish a lot of wacky things were happening! And this being my first Eddie Flynn novel, it was really enjoyable to get a look into his character. Him being an ex-con turned lawyer is such a cool form of characterization. As well as gaining more facets about him such as his history with drinking, marital issues, and his push and pull towards crazy legal situation. As well as his relationship with Harry. For this being the fourth book in a series, I feel like the author handled the main character's archetype very well. I really enoyed how this book was written and by the end, I found myself missing Eddie. We really went through a lot with him in this book.
Kane was something else. Now I'm not aware of the validity of all of Kane's mannerisms and psychosis but the way the author wrote made it very believable. Kane was such a methodical and innately nefarious individual. It was very intriguing to be in his head and read about him and his backstory.
The plot did EAT in this book! The concept was so cool, it would've made a great plot for a show or movie. Of course, the court part of this book doesn't really start till you're halfway through, but the first half was still intriguing, but it was more build-up than anything else which kinda bored me a little bit (but that's on me), but one the court part did come they DELIVERED. It was so fun to read and the original poster was so right, when reading you can most definitely visualize everything that's going on. Again, I really recommend the author for bringing this to life and being so descriptive.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I felt like the ending was a bit lackluster considering the type of individual Kane was made out to be.Him dying by like five gunshots felt so anticlimactic. I wish Kane and Eddie interacted more during that final scene and it was more of a slow burn. And I hate that we didn't get Kane's final thoughts as he was dying that would've been so great to be in his head and see how he was defeated. The twists in these books are good too. Steve seems like a very meticulous writer, making sure that most if not every dot is left uncrossed. I predicted Holten being involved as the story was coming along, but I had no idea of his full involvement. I really felt like the twists tied the story together well.
After reading this book, and getting a taste of Steve's writing, I just might read more from this and might dive into this series at one point. What a fun and entertaining read!
Note: I highly recommend the audiobook for this one! The narrator did a great job differentiating the voices.
Note this book is told in dual POV, the killer, and Eddie Flynn. When I first saw this book, I thought it was a standalone, but I later found that it was the 4th book in a series but the original poster noted that they read this as a standalone so I proceeded to do the same. And after reading this book, I agree you could read this as a standalone and be fine.
As for the story, honestly, I'm such a sucker for court cases in shows. Law & Order SVU is one of my favorite shows, so it was nice to see all that in book form and so much more. This book definitely made me want to get more into legal thrillers.
This book was crazy! From start to finish a lot of wacky things were happening! And this being my first Eddie Flynn novel, it was really enjoyable to get a look into his character. Him being an ex-con turned lawyer is such a cool form of characterization. As well as gaining more facets about him such as his history with drinking, marital issues, and his push and pull towards crazy legal situation. As well as his relationship with Harry. For this being the fourth book in a series, I feel like the author handled the main character's archetype very well. I really enoyed how this book was written and by the end, I found myself missing Eddie. We really went through a lot with him in this book.
Kane was something else. Now I'm not aware of the validity of all of Kane's mannerisms and psychosis but the way the author wrote made it very believable. Kane was such a methodical and innately nefarious individual. It was very intriguing to be in his head and read about him and his backstory.
The plot did EAT in this book! The concept was so cool, it would've made a great plot for a show or movie. Of course, the court part of this book doesn't really start till you're halfway through, but the first half was still intriguing, but it was more build-up than anything else which kinda bored me a little bit (but that's on me), but one the court part did come they DELIVERED. It was so fun to read and the original poster was so right, when reading you can most definitely visualize everything that's going on. Again, I really recommend the author for bringing this to life and being so descriptive.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I felt like the ending was a bit lackluster considering the type of individual Kane was made out to be.
After reading this book, and getting a taste of Steve's writing, I just might read more from this and might dive into this series at one point. What a fun and entertaining read!
Note: I highly recommend the audiobook for this one! The narrator did a great job differentiating the voices.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Alcohol, and Police brutality
Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Mental illness, Outing, Stalking, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
aparker89's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Classism, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Body shaming, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Torture
hellokatya's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this book really took me by surprise. the twists and turns fully got me - i did not expect any of them. really good plot, not great execution. the writing style bored me at points and felt like a chore to get through. also far too many characters to keep track of, constantly had to refer back to character log to know who was being spoken of.
overall very good book. would recommend
overall very good book. would recommend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Torture, Violence, Death, and Stalking
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Misogyny, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Minor: Car accident, Mental illness, and Vomit
sophie_the_reader_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Self harm, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Death, Violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Stalking, Body horror, and Alcohol
tmazzzzzi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Murder, Police brutality, Death, Alcoholism, Stalking, Rape, Blood, and Car accident
theinkwyrm's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Well I enjoyed that more than I'd anticipated. I feel like the dual perspectives kept the pacing fast and compelling and the POVs were almost equally matched as far as enjoyment. While I didn't enjoy Flynn's POV quite as much as Kane's, the courtroom drama elements helped even that up. I also appreciated that while Flynn is clearly a modern day version of the hardboiled detective, he lacks for the most part (although not completely) the misogyny that is generally typical of that trope. The only thing that you really have to suspend your disbelief for (or at least I did) was that Kane is not only a psycopathic and sociopathic serial killer but that he also has a rare disorder that means he can't feel pain (which is mentioned pretty early on), which is honestly just kind of overkill if you ask me. But I still enjoyed his POV enough that it didn't bother me enough to want to stop reading. Overall, a pretty solid thriller that you can enjoy without having read the first few books in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death
ramblingreader65's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was INCREDIBLE! Every time I thought I had figured out the twist, I was wrong. Love that in a thriller. This has a very criminal minds vibe!
I didn't realize this was book 4 in a series but it was easy to jump in and understand the characters.
I didn't realize this was book 4 in a series but it was easy to jump in and understand the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Murder, Gun violence, Gore, Death, and Blood
siniandi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Within the thriller category, this is one of the best there is right now. It is fast paced and really engaging; one of those books you read within two days, because you can't really bring yourself to stop reading. The plot was developed quite well and I didn't see the final twists coming at all! The book fails the Bechtel test, but those looking for a tense thriller with good entertainment value will be happy with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Police brutality, Violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Rape
martin27's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
To be honest I don’t know what made me pick up this one. It’s not what I normally read. I prefer character driven stories, usually. This is… not that. But more than just being plot-driven, the characters are all very bland. They’re basically indistinguishable from one another. They all speak the same way and do the same things. By far the characters I liked the most were Harper and Delaney, but not for anything unique or interesting they did as much as having literally even one defining characteristic to set them apart from the other characters (that trait is that they’re women, by the way. That’s the only thing that makes them different from everyone else in any way.).
There were a few good twists, the actual mystery element was fine. The pacing is… odd. The whole book takes place during one week, but it really doesn’t feel that way when reading. The first half especially dragged, but it picked up after that.
If you like crime dramas, you’ll probably get more out of this than I did. I can’t fault it for being a genre I just generally don’t care for. But I do wish that the characters had been a bit more defined and that the pacing made more sense. It also alternates between first and third person pov, which was… not my favorite choice. Eddie’s perspective is so bland that writing it in first person doesn’t add anything to the story, and Kane’s isn’t special enough to warrant a change in the pov.
There were a few good twists, the actual mystery element was fine. The pacing is… odd. The whole book takes place during one week, but it really doesn’t feel that way when reading. The first half especially dragged, but it picked up after that.
If you like crime dramas, you’ll probably get more out of this than I did. I can’t fault it for being a genre I just generally don’t care for. But I do wish that the characters had been a bit more defined and that the pacing made more sense. It also alternates between first and third person pov, which was… not my favorite choice. Eddie’s perspective is so bland that writing it in first person doesn’t add anything to the story, and Kane’s isn’t special enough to warrant a change in the pov.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Outing and Ableism
Minor: Rape
mina_m's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Blood