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A review by soulkissed2003
Grave Intent by Alexander Hartung
3.0
A local Berlin doctor calls the police from his wife's grave, horrified to see a grave with his own name dug out next to hers, with the date of death on it – marked for the next day! The dispatcher advises the man to head into the station, but he never makes it . . . . Other murders follow, and Detective Jan Tommen is assigned the case. But the serial killer always seems to be just one step ahead of him. It becomes personal when one of the grave markers predicts the murders of one of Jan's friends. Can he outwit the murderer, and find his friend, before it's too late?
This novel was translated from the original German. The story is suspenseful and generally fast moving. There were a handful of slower spots, but overall the pace was a good one. It was an interesting twist having the murderer leave grave markers giving the planned date of each victim's demise. There is a previous title in this series, called “Until the Debt is Paid”. There were some references to the detective's traumatic experience during his previous case, but it might have been easier to understand the character if I had read that first book before this one. I felt he was underdeveloped. Detective Tommen had a network of clever friends to assist him in solving the case. I felt the team was well-rounded, even though not much was revealed about the individual characters. It would have been more engaging to learn more about their back stories.
So in short, while I enjoyed this novel, I felt like something was lacking a little.
* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *
This novel was translated from the original German. The story is suspenseful and generally fast moving. There were a handful of slower spots, but overall the pace was a good one. It was an interesting twist having the murderer leave grave markers giving the planned date of each victim's demise. There is a previous title in this series, called “Until the Debt is Paid”. There were some references to the detective's traumatic experience during his previous case, but it might have been easier to understand the character if I had read that first book before this one. I felt he was underdeveloped. Detective Tommen had a network of clever friends to assist him in solving the case. I felt the team was well-rounded, even though not much was revealed about the individual characters. It would have been more engaging to learn more about their back stories.
So in short, while I enjoyed this novel, I felt like something was lacking a little.
* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *