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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Hangman by Stephan Talty

Hangman 

Serial killer Marcus Flynn has escaped from prison, and Abbie Kearney finds herself the lead in the investigation.

After murdering four young girls, Flynn's attempt at suicide failed, and the brain injured man was tried and incarcerated. The body of the 4th girl was never recovered, a loose end that hangs over the heads of the police and of her father.

Despite the dragnet in place after his escape, Flynn makes his way back to his old hunting grounds, and almost immediately begins killing again.

Abbie Kearney desperately attempts to stop the Hangman before he kills again, and a young girl has only hours left if Abbie isn't successful.

Hangman reads reads quickly and is a suspenseful adventure.  There are no surprises, really; you can figure most of it out very early, but the turns the investigation takes will keep you interested.

Talty has been compared to Jo Nesbo and Tana French, but Abbie lacks the strange charisma of Nesbo's Harry Hole and the writing lacks the multi-layered psychological approach of French. Not as violent as Nesbo, not as well-written as French.

I had a few questions about a few situations, but didn't go back to see if I just overlooked a few things.   

 Read in Jan.; blog post scheduled for April

NetGalley/Random House/Ballantine

Police Procedural/Crime.  May 23, 2014.  Print Version: 320 pages.

3 comments:

  1. My first thought was, "I wonder why he didn't finish the suicide attempt he failed at before being arrested?" Not very nice, I know.

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  2. Too bad it didn't quite compare to French or Nesbo but sounds like it wasn't so bad either. Perhaps if this is a series then the second book will be a better installment.

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  3. Wendy - Suspicious?

    Iliana - It is hard to be as good as French, and being less violent than Nesbo isn't a bad thing. You are right, the book isn't as good as French or Nesbo, but not bad either.

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