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debs4jc's review against another edition
set in boston during the time that the boston strangler was active, the book chronicles the affairs of the daley family. this touches on the strangler investigation, as lawyer michael daly works on the investigation. brother joe daly is a cop. and the other brother, ricky, is a thief. they all become interested in who the strangler might be, after reporter amy ryan, michael's girlfriend, is strangled. but is her death the work of the strangler, or is it the work of someone who didn't like the investigation she was pursuing into how joe daly sr., also a cop, was killed?[return]this story took me a while to get into, it's one where there are many layers and characters to keep track of. there is a lot of grusome detail in it too. the many threads are woven together well at the end, albiet with a lot of violence. fans of crime fiction and true crime stories will enjoy this one.
debs4jc's review against another edition
3.0
Set in Boston during the time that the Boston Strangler was active, the book chronicles the affairs of the Daley family. This touches on the strangler investigation, as lawyer Michael Daly works on the investigation. Brother Joe Daly is a cop. And the other brother, Ricky, is a thief. They all become interested in who the strangler might be, after reporter Amy Ryan, Michael's girlfriend, is strangled. But is her death the work of the Strangler, or is it the work of someone who didn't like the investigation she was pursuing into how Joe Daly Sr., also a cop, was killed?[return]This story took me a while to get into, it's one where there are many layers and characters to keep track of. There is a lot of grusome detail in it too. The many threads are woven together well at the end, albiet with a lot of violence. Fans of crime fiction and true crime stories will enjoy this one.
jennthegreat251's review against another edition
4.0
I read defending Jacob and was so in love with the book I decided to read more from the author. I was not disappointed at all. Defending Jacob is still my number one book from Landay but not by much. This book was great and was completely different to defending Jacob. I could tell it was the same author but I didn’t feel like it was the same book over again.
I thought it was interesting and I plan to learn more about the actual Boston strangler having read this story. There are a lot of twists and turns. I often found myself looking for foreshadowing and trying to guess how the plot would unravel. I assumed after defending Jacob there would be a shocker and the entire book I was trying to figure it out.
Landay is a very descriptive writer and at times I found myself a little bored with his winded sometimes half page descriptions. I did find there was a lot of repetition that could have been edited out. Even more daunting, was the repetitive never ending descriptions. For example the migraines. I can honestly say I could probably describe one accurately from the inside out :/ (please Michael no more migraines I can’t handle the 3 pages I have to read describing it) but on a serious note, I think his goal was to make you feel the all encompassing pain of it but the reader only needs that once.
Overall it was a great read! I would definitely read another of his books.
I thought it was interesting and I plan to learn more about the actual Boston strangler having read this story. There are a lot of twists and turns. I often found myself looking for foreshadowing and trying to guess how the plot would unravel. I assumed after defending Jacob there would be a shocker and the entire book I was trying to figure it out.
Landay is a very descriptive writer and at times I found myself a little bored with his winded sometimes half page descriptions. I did find there was a lot of repetition that could have been edited out. Even more daunting, was the repetitive never ending descriptions. For example the migraines. I can honestly say I could probably describe one accurately from the inside out :/ (please Michael no more migraines I can’t handle the 3 pages I have to read describing it) but on a serious note, I think his goal was to make you feel the all encompassing pain of it but the reader only needs that once.
Overall it was a great read! I would definitely read another of his books.
vandermeer's review against another edition
3.0
Fast bis zum Ende gelesen, aber dann ging dem Ganzen doch die Luft aus. Zu viele endlose Beschreibungen, Wiederholungen, unlogische Handlungen. Dennoch schöne Stellen und Beschreibungen.
briannethebookworm's review against another edition
4.0
After reading Landay's Defending Jacob and loving it, I was excited to read another one of his books. I have found that in many crime fiction books that I have read in my career, the plot is a little slower to develop, and the same was the case for The Strangler. Landay does a nice job developing the personalities of the three brothers created in the story, all with different flaws that seem to come back to haunt them later on. Though the plot was a little slower to start, I was hooked by the end and engaged by the twists at the end of the novel when long-pondered secrets were unraveling and figured out by the brothers. By the end, I felt that there was closure both for the characters and myself as a reader. I did like Defending Jacob a lot more, but this is still a novel worth reading by Landay.
quinndm's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this. I really, really wanted to like this. But the story got muddled by too many characters and too many subplots. All that also made Part 2 of the book feel unnecessary. With some editing, this book could have been entertaining.
haysx5's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.5
lmb1011's review against another edition
2.0
Like so many others I had read Defending Jacob first, and was blown away by how good that book was. I was excited to pick up another William Landay and truly expected a similar experience.
I believe my dislike of this book is at least partially my own fault. I expected a book titled 'the strangler' to have the Stranglings be a main focus of the story. I didn't know until reading other reviews that the Boston Strangler was an actual case, and this was at least partially based on (or inspired by?) that. However, it seems like the Strangler was used as a backdrop. I was actually invested in figuring out who that was, to go chapters and chapters without it being really mentioned or cared about. Instead of following the strangler, you follow the 3 Daley brothers who are in their own ways caught up in the Strangler business, while also dealing with their own lives. Joe is a cop with a gambling problem and has roughly 0 redeeming qualities. He does stupid things, and then seems frustrated when it all blows up in his face and I really never felt bad for him. Michael is a lawyer who ends up getting assigned to work on the strangler case (which then goes on to describe the victims to a gross degree) meanwhile their youngest brother, Ricky is a thief.
None of them are particularly great, and i was expecting a lot more 'murder mystery' than I got. Most of this story is about Joe dealing with his gambling problem, Michael trying to decide who killed his father after someone suggests to him the story is different than what he was told. and Ricky being a thief.
The story shined best when it was actually providing mystery and action, and i did eventually get invested in Michael's secondary mystery. However I feel like the story I expected was not the story told, and in the end I just didn't like it. I will continue to try Landay's newer works as I believe this came before Defending Jacob, but this is just not one i can recommend to anyone, even if you like his other works.
I believe my dislike of this book is at least partially my own fault. I expected a book titled 'the strangler' to have the Stranglings be a main focus of the story. I didn't know until reading other reviews that the Boston Strangler was an actual case, and this was at least partially based on (or inspired by?) that. However, it seems like the Strangler was used as a backdrop. I was actually invested in figuring out who that was, to go chapters and chapters without it being really mentioned or cared about. Instead of following the strangler, you follow the 3 Daley brothers who are in their own ways caught up in the Strangler business, while also dealing with their own lives. Joe is a cop with a gambling problem and has roughly 0 redeeming qualities. He does stupid things, and then seems frustrated when it all blows up in his face and I really never felt bad for him. Michael is a lawyer who ends up getting assigned to work on the strangler case (which then goes on to describe the victims to a gross degree) meanwhile their youngest brother, Ricky is a thief.
None of them are particularly great, and i was expecting a lot more 'murder mystery' than I got. Most of this story is about Joe dealing with his gambling problem, Michael trying to decide who killed his father after someone suggests to him the story is different than what he was told. and Ricky being a thief.
The story shined best when it was actually providing mystery and action, and i did eventually get invested in Michael's secondary mystery. However I feel like the story I expected was not the story told, and in the end I just didn't like it. I will continue to try Landay's newer works as I believe this came before Defending Jacob, but this is just not one i can recommend to anyone, even if you like his other works.
genaralbert's review against another edition
3.0
Story was not as interesting as Defending Jacob or Mission Flats (by same author). Decent read but just didn't real grab onto my attention.