Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed on 12/27/2016 + 1444 more book reviews

Tami Hoag suspense novels are like champagne truffles dipped in crack. One sensuous nibble and you're gone. Whatever else you thought you were going to get accomplished today, forget it.

This one pushes several hot-buttons -- the loss of a child to a predator; the destruction of a family due to loss; the feeling that the system is stacked to prevent the apprehension of the prime suspect; the threat to the remaining child. How can you not get suckered in by this?

Hoag keeps things moving well, though the reader may sometimes get a bit impatient with the pages and pages and pages when one character or another is dissolving in grief and closing themselves away from any comfort. And some of the details about the activities of The Bad Guy are a bit too graphic for comfort.

But when push comes to shove -- and you know it will -- the climax is bloody and violent. And final, unlike some of Hoag's other works, when she sets a tickler in the final paragraph that makes the reader question every conclusion reached up to that point.

The novel is listed as "Oak Knoll #3", but stands well alone. However, if one is set on reading them all, they should probably be read in order, as "Down the Darkest Road" not only brings back some characters from the first two books, but casually mentions the identity of The Bad Guy in those novels and specifies who lived and who died.

Overall, it's a compelling read.

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