Helpful Score: 2
Taut, edge of the seat thriller, debut thriller by this author, I will look for more!
Helpful Score: 2
2.0 out of 5 stars Boring and predictable., July 8, 2010
This review is from: Damaged (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel was melodramatic romantic suspense at less than its best. The premise: someone is killing and dismembering young girls. Is there a connection to the body parts/tissue procurement industry? Who is involved in the dastardly plot? It's an attempt at a legal/medical thriller but there's not much law and much less medicine.
The protagonist, attorney Kate Lange, is definitely an angst ridden would-be heroine whose preoccupation with a tragedy that occurred when she was a teenager continues to haunt her despite her success. The reader is treated to frequent long stretches of internal dialogue where Kate obsesses about her past and thrashes about in the wellspring of her guilt. The other characters in the book were no more interesting and were poorly developed caricatures of police detective, managing partner in a legal firm, funeral home director, greedy lawyer, mad scientist, etc. I didn't like or care about any of them. All the men were basically lusting after Kate and the "romance" was completely absent unless you count "longing" looks and "heated" gazes. The author's attempt to insert subtle messages about medico-legal ethics, tissue donation, and the use of cadaveric materials for transplant were annoying and quite transparent. In addition, there seems to be obvious effort to get the reader to feel sorry for poor Kate who is bumbling around in her mistaken and misguided investigation without, of course, involving the police who should be handling the matters. I found her insipid and irritating as a main character and won't be reading the sequel in this series, INDEFENSIBLE, due out in January 2011.
Kate makes one stupid decision after another. Please, authors, can any one write a suspense thriller where the heroine does not end up in the killer's clutches?? Surely there are more realistic ways to solve the crime than this old and tired climax where the (usually) female main character stumbles headlong into an investigation and manages to almost become a victim?
As far as I'm concerned, I recommend that thriller lovers skip this debut and the series.
This review is from: Damaged (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel was melodramatic romantic suspense at less than its best. The premise: someone is killing and dismembering young girls. Is there a connection to the body parts/tissue procurement industry? Who is involved in the dastardly plot? It's an attempt at a legal/medical thriller but there's not much law and much less medicine.
The protagonist, attorney Kate Lange, is definitely an angst ridden would-be heroine whose preoccupation with a tragedy that occurred when she was a teenager continues to haunt her despite her success. The reader is treated to frequent long stretches of internal dialogue where Kate obsesses about her past and thrashes about in the wellspring of her guilt. The other characters in the book were no more interesting and were poorly developed caricatures of police detective, managing partner in a legal firm, funeral home director, greedy lawyer, mad scientist, etc. I didn't like or care about any of them. All the men were basically lusting after Kate and the "romance" was completely absent unless you count "longing" looks and "heated" gazes. The author's attempt to insert subtle messages about medico-legal ethics, tissue donation, and the use of cadaveric materials for transplant were annoying and quite transparent. In addition, there seems to be obvious effort to get the reader to feel sorry for poor Kate who is bumbling around in her mistaken and misguided investigation without, of course, involving the police who should be handling the matters. I found her insipid and irritating as a main character and won't be reading the sequel in this series, INDEFENSIBLE, due out in January 2011.
Kate makes one stupid decision after another. Please, authors, can any one write a suspense thriller where the heroine does not end up in the killer's clutches?? Surely there are more realistic ways to solve the crime than this old and tired climax where the (usually) female main character stumbles headlong into an investigation and manages to almost become a victim?
As far as I'm concerned, I recommend that thriller lovers skip this debut and the series.
Kate Lange is a new attorney at one of the top law firms in Nova Scotia. Being new though, she keeps being fed family law and is frustrated since she was promised ligature, but does her best. But when an elderly woman comes to Kate wanting to pursue custody proceedings for her teenage granddaughter, Kate directs her to family services. Unfortunately, the girl is found murdered days later.
Kate feels really guilty, but is offered a chance at a new case at work that could be just the ticket to show the firm what she has to offer. But the more immersed in the case she gets, the more she finds things aren't as they seem.
All the while, Kate is still feeling guilt for killing her younger sister years ago in an accident, and the fact that her fiance dumped her because Kate never told him about her embezzeling father. Kate just needs a bit of luck her way, a new start. If she can show her work and good intentions in the new case, maybe she'll be on the right path.
More girls are found dead, dismembered, and Kate is thrown off of the high-profile case. Coincidence? Kate thinks not, and even though she isn't on the case anymore, her guilt drives her to keep investigating. The body parts pile up and Kate is soon fighting for her life and her career.
Damaged is an edge of your seat thriller that had me up late turning the pages. A splash of romance, a serial killer, and a medical drama, all tinged with legalities and police procedures. I'm looking forward to reading more of Kate Lange -- she is an interesting character with many layers. Great thrilling debut that had me shivering in horror and absolutely riveted.
Kate feels really guilty, but is offered a chance at a new case at work that could be just the ticket to show the firm what she has to offer. But the more immersed in the case she gets, the more she finds things aren't as they seem.
All the while, Kate is still feeling guilt for killing her younger sister years ago in an accident, and the fact that her fiance dumped her because Kate never told him about her embezzeling father. Kate just needs a bit of luck her way, a new start. If she can show her work and good intentions in the new case, maybe she'll be on the right path.
More girls are found dead, dismembered, and Kate is thrown off of the high-profile case. Coincidence? Kate thinks not, and even though she isn't on the case anymore, her guilt drives her to keep investigating. The body parts pile up and Kate is soon fighting for her life and her career.
Damaged is an edge of your seat thriller that had me up late turning the pages. A splash of romance, a serial killer, and a medical drama, all tinged with legalities and police procedures. I'm looking forward to reading more of Kate Lange -- she is an interesting character with many layers. Great thrilling debut that had me shivering in horror and absolutely riveted.
