The premise of this book completely drew me in, I had several friends ask what I thought. This book has a unique storyline unlike anything I’ve read before. The characters just weren’t likeable to me. The female cop was completely stereotypical and the Reese family was dull with no redeeming qualities in any character. I wasn’t rooting for Martin I almost wished the Ragman killed them all. At the 50% mark the book really picked up and held my interest until the 75th when it got slow again. I found myself scanning pages because of lack of interest. I will recommend this for fans of serial killers and unique plot lines and there is a fan base for unlikeable characters that I could see really enjoying this. I wish the book had more outer dialogue several chapters had nothing but descriptors and inner dialogue which made the book drag. 2 1/2 stars I’ll bump to a 3.

Yet another thriller. There are so many out there. Never heard of the author, but looked interesting, nice name, why not. This one was in a word…competent. It just wasn’t enough. In fact the entire book in all its aspects was almost good enough in a pretty frustrating way. The only real success here was the representation of the Reese family, realistic dynamics, great dialogue. The rest…well, there’s the almost but not quite unreliable narrator, Martin, the man with serious sociopathic tendencies, which are so under control, too under control, it basically makes you wait the entire novel for him to go off the rails and he just doesn’t. On the obverse there’s the real (actively so) sociopath that just isn’t that interesting or complicated or even fun. There’s a woman cop who’s too stereotypically tough as nails to take seriously and her male partner/lover, who’s too generic. There are some side characters, but nothing really special. In fact, nothing special is kind of the theme here. What is there is well done, sort of a mixture of man alone thriller and a procedural, but it’s the amount of unrealized potential is just too trying. Also the length of the story is quite trying, although it reads easily enough, it does go on. There was no redeeming last minute ending twist either, so this isn’t a mystery as such. There’s suspense, some excitement, murders (of course), but you won’t really have to use your brain for any guesswork. If only this one had been plotted as decently as it was written…what fun it would have been. The narrative was well done actually, drew and maintained the attention, passed the time. Just wished there was more to it than some mindless entertainment of the mediocre ish variety. Then again it’ll probably make a fun movie, seeing how the rights were sold. Thanks Netgalley.

It's hard to find a unique read and writing style in this genre but Ripley pulls of one of the best thrillers I have read in ages. The characters were interesting and developed, the pace was a steady build that kept readers engaged and eager to finish.