I bought this used paperback book at a Literacy Luncheon and forgot about it until I was looking for something to read one day. It was an okay thriller, but didn't quite live up to the hype on the cover. According to the cover "John Lutz is one of the masters" and "John Lutz knows to make you shiver." I'm not big on books that make you shiver and this one certainly did not do it for me.The premise of the book is that there is a serial killer stalking New York City. He calls himself the Justice Killer because he begins by killing the foreperson of juries who allowed killers to go free when they should have been found guilty. Then he starts killing other jury members and finally the freed killers themselves.Recently retired homicide detective Artemis Beam made his reputation hunting down serial killers so he is called out of retirement to find this killer. I haven't read John Lutz before but I assume Beam is a continuing character. Harry Bosch he is not. Neither he nor any of his team members make much effort to track down the killer other than showing up at the crime scenes and interviewing possible witnesses.I guess I have read too many of Michael Connelly's books to be fooled by this author. I knew who the killer was the first time he was introduced into the story. This book really dragged. We had killing after killing with the police standing around talking. This was a 478-page paperback that could have been wrapped up in 300 pages.There are a couple of love stories in the book, but they are not handled well. Beam is enamored of a woman who hates him at the beginning of the book. The scene where she finally succumbs to his charms doesn't ring true. One of Beam's detectives is a woman named Nell Corey. Her love story at the end of the book didn't make sense at all.This author is alright for a beach read, but there are too many detective story writers who are a lot better.
Read some time in past, I realized after 80 pages
—Kykernel
Good - not great. I admit to sneaking a peek to see who did it....but when I finished I realized that there was not one iota of a hint in the whole book that this person was the perpetrator. It's like the author just pulled it out of his butt.And then, there is a question at the end of another murder which this person may or may not have committed.I like my mysteries tied up with a pretty bow and handed to me at the very end. If I miss "who done it"....then my bad. But, for heaven's sake please give me a chance to guess it with a clue here or there.
—Marianne Jay
Another good read from John Lutz. I often expect his books to be part of each other but I think the only thing they have in common is major serial killers. (Although, I could be wrong as I never seem to read two of the "Night" series close to each other and could be forgetting the major players.)I never would have guessed the serial killer in this one in a million years. They kept it quite well hidden with lost od clues leading to other characters. The little synopsis at the end saying what happened in the character's lives was nicely done with just enough information to think everything is all over.
—Jenn
