carolesrandomlife

In the interest of full disclosure, I received an advance reader edition of this book from St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

I did enjoy this book. I would rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars but I am rounding up to 4 stars. There was a lot going on and at times it was hard for me to follow. I think some of my difficulties in following this book was that it was translated from German. I have not read many books originally written in another language so this is a new arena for me. The book translated well and I thought it was very well written with complex plot lines. I found that I had trouble keeping the parts of the book that were completely German straight in my head. I found myself confusing characters because I mixed up some of the names in my head because they were all so foreign to me. I understand that this is my issue but I don’t think I would have had the same troubles if the characters were named Bob and Sue.

After I was able to get the characters straight in my head, I really liked the complex intersecting plots that made up this novel. The book starts with the body of a young girl being found. As her murder is being investigated, we begin to meet other characters who will play an ever increasingly important role as the novel progresses. A famous talk show host is later raped and left for dead in the trunk of her car but miraculously survives the ordeal. As the book progresses we learn that everything is tied to a group of prominent people covering up and engaging in a horrible crime ring. There really is a lot going on in the book but it all does come together in the end.

This was book 6 in the series according to Goodreads. I believe that there is only one other book in the series that has been translated into English to this point. I do wonder if German readers would be at an advantage because they have already had the opportunity to meet some of the characters and pick up on past plots. I have to believe that the police scandal in this book probably shows up in an earlier book in the series. In addition, the relationships between the investigators would have probably had more importance if I had some background.