The Killing Lessons by Saul Black 400 pages $12.99 Kindle version |
Nell is the child who manages to escape from the grisly attack upon her family, but she is injured and trapped in a remote cabin with a crippled stranger. Unfortunately, the serial killer finds out there is a witness, he hunts Nell down as he tries to evade Detective Hart, and readers must bear witness to the deadly race between the two opposing forces.
Saul Black does an excellent job of portraying the horrific suffering of the victims, without being overly graphic, while contrasting the killer's determination with that of the detective to create a sickening masterpiece in terror. I wanted Hart to find the killer, not just to stop him, but to redeem herself...the way she devalued herself made it painful to read her POV. In comparison, Nell - the young girl - is truly the strongest female character, and her struggle to survive gave me more hope than anything Hart was doing.
There is also another female character, Carla York, a federal agent determined to kick Hart off the case and destroy the detective's career...I found her to be more of an antagonist than the actual serial killer. Black cleverly orchestrates drama between York and Hart to keep readers guessing about York's true motivation until the very end.
The ending is well-written, but not nearly as shocking as the events leading up to the finale. However, I enjoyed this story a great deal, and I will never look at the alphabet the same way again.
As always,
AstraDaemon
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