Rating: 
Summary: Okay but. . .
Review: This book has a decent premise, and I love the detective character, but it needs some work.First of all, I agree with one previous reviewer -- the "secret" of the book is revealed literally half-way through the read (way too soon). This makes every move by the detective and other characters look so stupid it's not even funny. You really want to like the detective, but after reading him do some really dense things, you lose interest. I also have a fundamental problem with the book and it's secret. I think the author really needed to get himself a better editor, because there are many inconsistencies that need to be resolved. Speaking of editing, the book is chock full of poor grammar and missed/mis-used punctuation. I'd wait for the next book or if you want to read a thriller, get Mark of the Assassin by Silva or something like that.
Rating: 
Summary: I am no prude, but...
Review: This is one of the most hideous, vile, pathetic parodies of mystery-thriller fiction that I've read in a long time. It is completely and utterly ...... repulsive. The .... between Conrad Voort and his girlfriend that is. But entirely doing away with the juvenile giggling-hand-in-front-of-mouth childishness of the ..... would do very little to improve Mr. Black's efforts. For the style in which this parody of literature is written is, at best, confusing and, at worst, totally incomprehensible. So, do yourself one gigantic favor and skip this book, and if you've bought but haven't yet got around to reading it, drive to your local secondhand bookstore and toss this puppy into the bargain bin and pick yourself up a Sallie Bissell or Ridley Pearson. Leave this reprehensible trash for the garbage man.
Rating:
Summary: just plain bad psychology
Review: This novel is not particularly distinguished-- the characters and settings are a bit too generic-- but what really got to me was the psychology. It is just bad. The details of the mental disorder that the killer suffers from are straight from a bad made-for-TV movie and have no relation to reality at all. He even gets the name wrong, using a distorted form of the old label for this disorder. To me, a good novel must first and foremost have decent psychology behind it, or else it doesn't work. Even comic book and fantasy stories must be grounded in good psychology in order to work and create a connection to the reader. To fudge on this undermines the story in a big way. Maybe he could have gotten away with this if he had gone into the mind of the killer a little more, but he doesn't, probably so he could create some half-hearted red herrings in the first half of the novel. Also, what I found even more bizarre than the events in the book was a three-page interview at the end between the author and his fictional detective (!?!?!?). If an author wants to generate interest in a character, why not do it in the context of the novel itself? Thumbs down for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: This was a great pschological thriller. It contains sex, violence, lust, murder and much more. Black is a clever writer because the plot throws any reader for a loop, due to its unexpected results regarding the BHC. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror/thriller novels.
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