Jane Halifax is a forensic psychologist who is well-established in her field. She is brought into a case by former ... fling/friend/police officer Eric Ringer. This brutal murder harkens to medieval torture. As Jane, Ringer, and the team, continue to hunt the murderer more bodies are piling up. There seems to be no motive. Jane is desperate to get into the head and understand the merciless killer.
When I started reading this story, it felt like I was in an already established series. However, this is the first book in the series. I found out, after the fact, that this is based on a television show in Australia. Which makes everything make so much more sense. The story has an almost theatrical feel, not cheesy, but it feels like it should be on a screen. The murders are elaborate, gruesome, visually, and viscerally grotesque. The bad guy literally wears stage makeup to disguise himself. When reading the story it is so easy to picture everything that is happening even the smallest details.
Since I was unfamiliar with the show, I feel like I have missed some of the chemistry that has been established with Jane, Ringer, and her colleagues. It is harder to get in her head and sympathize with her losses. It feels as if the author is betting on the primary reader to have familiarity with the characters. That connection is something that I wish I had.
With that being said, the story was very entertaining. There isn't necessarily a mystery in who the bad people are, but the thrill of the hunt and how the police are going to catch the bad guy. This is worth the read, and I believe that PBS is showing the Halifax f.p. series that this book is based on. I will be checking it out.

“Halifax Transgression” by Roger Simpson is one of my favorite mystery novels I’ve read in 2023. Simpson, as I have since read, is an award-winning screenwriter “down under” and has taken his protagonist from a series of tele-movies and has developed Halifax into his first novel. The story ran the risk of becoming a third-rate horror story due to a series of squeamish murders; however, Simpson ratchets back on the horror and develops his characters, his plot lines, while building the tension. This novel held my attention from beginning till end and just when you think the story is over…well, there may be some additional surprises for the reader.
Thanks to NetGalley for the great read and I am looking forward to the next Halifax story. I’m giving this book all five stars.

If you like a strong female lead, this is the book for you. Dr. Jane Halifax is a consulting forensic psychologist to the Melbourne, Australia police, this is the series to read. I have had the pleasure of viewing the Australian crime television series of Halifax: Retribution. I enjoyed the back and forth of the well-defined characters, as well as the twisty plot. The book is a bit hard to read as a novel, as the short staccato sentences seem to be written as a film script. With time I’m sure the fluid writing style of a novelist will appear. I cannot wait to read more books in this series.

This was a unique take on the killer and thriller aspect, it worked well overall. I was invested in what was going on with this world and the characters within. I really enjoy the way Roger Simpson writes this and creates great detective characters. I'm excited to read whatever comes next.

"The concierge let her into the building and Ringer drove off into the night. As Jane got into the lift she looked at herself in the mirror, slumping as she replayed her lines. ‘My latest thinking is I need to go home to bed.’ And, ‘Not tonight, Eric. Maybe some other time when we’re not so distracted.’"