Taboo by Casey Hill
Dec. 26th, 2012 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Prepare to be chilled to the bone.
San Francisco forensics investigator Reilly Steel leaves her bustling home for Dublin, where she’s been tasked with dragging the Garda forensics team into the 21st-century. At the same time, she must keep tabs on her Irish-born father, who’s increasingly seeking solace in the bottle after a past tragedy involving Reilly’s younger sister, Jess. The relative peace of Dublin quickly works its magic, and Reilly begins to settle into her new home.
But a brutal serial killer soon puts paid to that. A young man and woman are found dead in a hotel room, the gunshot wounds suggesting a suicide pact. But as Reilly and the team dig deeper, and more bodies are discovered, they soon realise that a twisted murderer is at work. One who seeks to upset society’s norms in the most sickening way imaginable …
Reilly Steel is a Quantico-trained forensic investigator who’s moved from San Francisco to Dublin to be with her alcoholic Irish-born father. Her job’s to teach the Garda’s forensic team the most recent forensic methods and their training’s put to the test when a young man and woman are found dead in a hotel room. The evidence suggests a suicide pact but when Reilly and her team discover that the victims were brother and sister, it’s only the start of a terrifying campaign by a twisted serial killer keen to challenge society’s worst taboos. Assisted by detective Chris Delaney, Reilly must find the killer before the murders strike close to home …
Casey Hill’s (the pseudonym of Melissa and Kevin Hill) debut thriller is a limping, dull affair filled with clichéd characters and hampered by a plodding plot that struggles to hang together. It’s the first in a series but based on this effort, I won’t be reading on.
Reilly Steel is a clichéd addition to the crowded field of female forensic scientists. The reader has to be told repeatedly how brilliant she is at her job, she has a troubled past and an alcoholic father who she feels obligated to look after to the extent that she’s moved to Dublin in order to do so. Tasked with bringing the sexist dinosaurs in the Garda, she battles outmoded forensic methods to teach her cowed workmates 21st century forensic methods. I found her utterly dull and predictable and the inevitable romance with the one detective who believes in her – Chris Delaney – lacked spark and tension. Chris himself is hiding a mysterious illness from his colleagues, which is presumably supposed to make the reader care about him but didn’t work for me.
The idea of murders based on taboos is a good one but it’s treated in a heavy handed way that’s incredibly slow to build and relies on exposition as to what the taboos are and what they represent. You’re not invited to care about the victims (who barely get developed) and the link to Reilly’s tragic past (which actually made me laugh once revealed) is signalled with anvils. The ending contained practically every cliché going and handled them in a boring way.
All in all, there was nothing here that would make me want to read the rest of the series as I think there are better thrillers out there.
The Verdict:
Casey Hill’s debut thriller is a limping, dull affair filled with clichéd characters and hampered by a plodding plot that struggles to hang together. It’s the first in a series but based on this effort, I won’t be reading on.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
San Francisco forensics investigator Reilly Steel leaves her bustling home for Dublin, where she’s been tasked with dragging the Garda forensics team into the 21st-century. At the same time, she must keep tabs on her Irish-born father, who’s increasingly seeking solace in the bottle after a past tragedy involving Reilly’s younger sister, Jess. The relative peace of Dublin quickly works its magic, and Reilly begins to settle into her new home.
But a brutal serial killer soon puts paid to that. A young man and woman are found dead in a hotel room, the gunshot wounds suggesting a suicide pact. But as Reilly and the team dig deeper, and more bodies are discovered, they soon realise that a twisted murderer is at work. One who seeks to upset society’s norms in the most sickening way imaginable …
Reilly Steel is a Quantico-trained forensic investigator who’s moved from San Francisco to Dublin to be with her alcoholic Irish-born father. Her job’s to teach the Garda’s forensic team the most recent forensic methods and their training’s put to the test when a young man and woman are found dead in a hotel room. The evidence suggests a suicide pact but when Reilly and her team discover that the victims were brother and sister, it’s only the start of a terrifying campaign by a twisted serial killer keen to challenge society’s worst taboos. Assisted by detective Chris Delaney, Reilly must find the killer before the murders strike close to home …
Casey Hill’s (the pseudonym of Melissa and Kevin Hill) debut thriller is a limping, dull affair filled with clichéd characters and hampered by a plodding plot that struggles to hang together. It’s the first in a series but based on this effort, I won’t be reading on.
Reilly Steel is a clichéd addition to the crowded field of female forensic scientists. The reader has to be told repeatedly how brilliant she is at her job, she has a troubled past and an alcoholic father who she feels obligated to look after to the extent that she’s moved to Dublin in order to do so. Tasked with bringing the sexist dinosaurs in the Garda, she battles outmoded forensic methods to teach her cowed workmates 21st century forensic methods. I found her utterly dull and predictable and the inevitable romance with the one detective who believes in her – Chris Delaney – lacked spark and tension. Chris himself is hiding a mysterious illness from his colleagues, which is presumably supposed to make the reader care about him but didn’t work for me.
The idea of murders based on taboos is a good one but it’s treated in a heavy handed way that’s incredibly slow to build and relies on exposition as to what the taboos are and what they represent. You’re not invited to care about the victims (who barely get developed) and the link to Reilly’s tragic past (which actually made me laugh once revealed) is signalled with anvils. The ending contained practically every cliché going and handled them in a boring way.
All in all, there was nothing here that would make me want to read the rest of the series as I think there are better thrillers out there.
The Verdict:
Casey Hill’s debut thriller is a limping, dull affair filled with clichéd characters and hampered by a plodding plot that struggles to hang together. It’s the first in a series but based on this effort, I won’t be reading on.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
