Two women are murdered in an apartment; one on the floor, one on the bed, both are positioned spread-eagle and cut open. The one on the bed has her abdomen sliced open and her unborn baby is gone. The media doesn't know it yet but this is the third time that Detective Inspector Philip Brennan has been to a scene like this, two other pregnant women have been murdered and their unborn child taken away. With no new leads psychologist Marina Esposito is brought in to help but this murder is going to hit very close to home with Marina as she is also hiding a secret. As Marina and Phil rush to find the killer, they have to hope that baby is still safe but time is running out and this hunter has a list.
I had a rough time with this book, not in the since that the book was not good, but more to the fact of being a new mom and the scenes with Hester and the baby were just disturbing to me. I cringed on more than one occasion. From her lack of ability to care for a baby to shaking the baby to what her belief of a baby should be like, were just downright disturbing to me. I think that most people will find these scenes disturbing as most people want to protect those that are weaker than them and who are innocent in life. With this in mind I applaud Carver for taking this approach and victim that not every author is willing to go there, and make their audience feel this uncomfortable when reading. That said, I know this book will not be for everyone, it can be graphic and disturbing at times, so reader beware if you decide to pick up this book.
I think the aspect of this book that I liked the most was when you think you have it figured out, Carver surprises you once again, and trust me this is really hard to achieve. This made the suspense aspect all the more real throughout the book and the sense of urgency never really leaves you as you read. I also found that the antagonist was the most interesting character as she was just downright scary. But at the same time you also feel sorry for her, so it was a weird dynamic in the book, but it worked really well.
I really didn't see anything different or new in Marina and Phi's partnership, I found they felt more like background characters than anything else. It is the story and plot that drives this book. I did feel that for more than half the book that there was a book previous to this one as the history between Marina and Phil is touched upon several times. Carver does eventually explain their history, but I think it was a little bit too late in the book. Additionally, when the history was fully explained I found that Marina's judgments against Phil were extreme given the circumstances. I get where her mind went about Phil not being there for her, but I think her actions afterwards were a little much.
I really enjoyed this book and the way that Carver decided to tell it. Honestly, Carver had me fooled more than once (and not to toot my own horn here) but that is hard to do in these types of books. I really enjoyed this book and as this is the first I have read by Carver I look forward to reading more.
Enjoy!!!
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