Helpful Score: 1
An excellent continuation of the Smoky Barrett series. I've given Book 1 and Book 2 five stars; this one gets four from me. Has a bit more religious quotes than I like, but still an excellent page-turner. The book definitely stands on its own, but I recommend reading at least "Shadow Man" (Smoky Barrett Book 1) first. This book has a lot of references from Book 1, and it will be a richer reading experience if you have some familiarity with the characters.
Helpful Score: 1
In this third novel Smoky Barrett and her team are summoned to Virginia, near Washington, D. C. to investigate the murder of Lisa Reid, born Dexter Reid, the almost transgendered son of Texas congressman Dillon Reid who's talked to be the next president of the United States. The victim was killed during a flight in mid air, the heart punctuated and a little cross with the number 143 stuck into the puncture wound.
When a second victim is found the team knows Reid's death wasn't necessaryly an act against the congressman but rather something the deceased had in common with the new victim. The M. O. similar to Read's, the new victims cross carries the number 142.
Is it possible there was a killer flying under the radar for years who killed 143 people ?
The team struggles to paint a picture of the person they are searching when online videos appear about the killing of Lisa Reid and all the other victims. They all had something in common: They sinned in their life. Homosexuality, sex, drugs, alcohol, infidelity, no sin is forgiven and The Preacher is going to get them.
Smoky's only way to find the perp is to figure out how he learned about his victims sins and the race against time begins with the announcement the next victim will be a child.
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Although this novel can't keep up with the last two books, it keeps a lot of info about the characters in McFadyen's series. Revealing their secrets, flaws and feelings. Smoky's struggle to allow herself to be happy in her now since two years lasting relationsship with Tommy, James's gayness, Alan's alcohol abuse and Callie's Vicodin addiction and even Kirby, who's been introduced in the second books and seems to have become a part of the family has to reveal one of her secrets at the end.
They are a family kept together by shattered dreams, loss and eyes that saw too much.
The whole book seems to evolve slowly but is non the less enjoyable to read and learn about the characters. I really liked it and it was about time to learn a bit more.
When a second victim is found the team knows Reid's death wasn't necessaryly an act against the congressman but rather something the deceased had in common with the new victim. The M. O. similar to Read's, the new victims cross carries the number 142.
Is it possible there was a killer flying under the radar for years who killed 143 people ?
The team struggles to paint a picture of the person they are searching when online videos appear about the killing of Lisa Reid and all the other victims. They all had something in common: They sinned in their life. Homosexuality, sex, drugs, alcohol, infidelity, no sin is forgiven and The Preacher is going to get them.
Smoky's only way to find the perp is to figure out how he learned about his victims sins and the race against time begins with the announcement the next victim will be a child.
-
Although this novel can't keep up with the last two books, it keeps a lot of info about the characters in McFadyen's series. Revealing their secrets, flaws and feelings. Smoky's struggle to allow herself to be happy in her now since two years lasting relationsship with Tommy, James's gayness, Alan's alcohol abuse and Callie's Vicodin addiction and even Kirby, who's been introduced in the second books and seems to have become a part of the family has to reveal one of her secrets at the end.
They are a family kept together by shattered dreams, loss and eyes that saw too much.
The whole book seems to evolve slowly but is non the less enjoyable to read and learn about the characters. I really liked it and it was about time to learn a bit more.
Don't miss this one! If you sometimes feel, as I do, that each new serial killer book is more "same old, same old," this novel is a breath of fresh, if twisted, air. The killer's motivation and methodology are unusual, complex and compelling; some of the good guys seem at least as crazy as some of the villains, and there are enough twists to keep you guessing for quite a while. I'll definitely be looking for more of this author's work.
Very satisfying mystery thriller..., September 20, 2009
Smoky Barrett is not your typical FBI agent. Unlike the typical man-hunting heroines in other thrillers of this nature, Smoky is emotionally and physically scarred and was mutilated by knife wounds inflicted by a killer who murdered her husband and daughter. In this third outing (after Shadow Man and The Face of Death, she's called into a case by Rosario Reid, the wife of a potential presidential candidate, after her son is found dead on an airplane -- killed at some point during the flight. The case is complicated because the son was actually a transsexual who called himself Lisa and who was living as a woman. This unusual murder proves to be just the tip of the iceberg with a serial killer who calls himself "the Preacher" admitting to the deaths of many other women. More murders are committed in the name of God and the killer insists that he kills because of the sins of the victim --sins that had been kept secret and never confessed. There is a religious component to the story.
Smoky and her team -- Callie, Alan, and James -- examine all possible leads and sources to track down the killer. The story is part police procedural and part psychological study. I like the interplay between the characters who all seem to have flaws that make them more endearing.
Although you don't have to have read the other two in the series in order to appreciate this book, I find it more satisfying to have seen the changes that the characters have undergone through the novels to this point. Definitely they are more than stereotypes and are not just one dimensional "good guys" hunting down the criminals.
Enjoy this one and be on the lookout for #4 in this great series, Abandoned: A Thriller (Smoky Barrett), due out this October, 2009.
Smoky Barrett is not your typical FBI agent. Unlike the typical man-hunting heroines in other thrillers of this nature, Smoky is emotionally and physically scarred and was mutilated by knife wounds inflicted by a killer who murdered her husband and daughter. In this third outing (after Shadow Man and The Face of Death, she's called into a case by Rosario Reid, the wife of a potential presidential candidate, after her son is found dead on an airplane -- killed at some point during the flight. The case is complicated because the son was actually a transsexual who called himself Lisa and who was living as a woman. This unusual murder proves to be just the tip of the iceberg with a serial killer who calls himself "the Preacher" admitting to the deaths of many other women. More murders are committed in the name of God and the killer insists that he kills because of the sins of the victim --sins that had been kept secret and never confessed. There is a religious component to the story.
Smoky and her team -- Callie, Alan, and James -- examine all possible leads and sources to track down the killer. The story is part police procedural and part psychological study. I like the interplay between the characters who all seem to have flaws that make them more endearing.
Although you don't have to have read the other two in the series in order to appreciate this book, I find it more satisfying to have seen the changes that the characters have undergone through the novels to this point. Definitely they are more than stereotypes and are not just one dimensional "good guys" hunting down the criminals.
Enjoy this one and be on the lookout for #4 in this great series, Abandoned: A Thriller (Smoky Barrett), due out this October, 2009.
This author will find himself right up there with Patterson, Coben, Lutz and more. This will bring you up to date on the personal side of Smoky Barrett along with the serial killer line probably already used in other books but still interesting to the end.
Another great one for McFadyen. The Darker Side, is just that, the darker side of everyone. Everyone has secrets, some more so than others. Some more horrible than others. Someone is killing sinners.... sinners they believe have not confessed the full truth to God, and must be punished for it. They force their final confession so they can release them from life to go to God. To bad they forgot that murder is a sin, even if your delusion is that you are doing God's work. Smoky and her team must work fast to find the killer before they "hear" the next confession. Confession 145. After 20 years the killer wants to be heard, for their work to be known. And for the world to rejoice in their efforts to help others find God. And in the midst of this Smoky has to figure out where her head is at with Tommy and Bonnie. Life goes on after tragedy, and Smoky must make the decision to forgive herself and move on with happiness, while chasing another psychopath to the wateringhole.
If you haven't read the first two in this series, start there. The characters are well developed. McFadyen shows all their flaws and their best traits. They have lives and worries, and in the process of living, they chase psychopaths. McFadyen's series is very dark and is not for the squeamish, but it keeps you on the edge. I really love the ride.....
www.texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
If you haven't read the first two in this series, start there. The characters are well developed. McFadyen shows all their flaws and their best traits. They have lives and worries, and in the process of living, they chase psychopaths. McFadyen's series is very dark and is not for the squeamish, but it keeps you on the edge. I really love the ride.....
www.texasreader-stacy.blogspot.com
I like these characters but every book has to tell the entire story again and again and again, I found this one to be a little on the toooooo long and gets just a little boring with too much descriptions, etc. it just kind of drags out until you just have to set it aside and come back to it and do that several times
