Helpful Score: 2
I really liked The Dying Game! I am a big fan of Beverly Barton's and she delivered on this one. It was suspenseful till the end. By giving some of the victims some of their own story, the suspense was more real and it made the killing that much more scary and sad. The characterizations were thorough and interesting. It wasn't exactly a romance, but more of a love story about healing and dealing with emotional demons. Judd wasn't really a hero in the traditional sense, but a main character who is flawed and unstable. Lindsay was a wonderful heroine who stuck with Judd, right or wrong. His healing and journey back from the bottom he had let himself fall to to reunite with Lindsay was heartwrenching and heartwarming. A lot of the story involved Griffin and Nic and Sanders, which will lead right into their book next year. Griffin was the less likable character in my mind. At this point, I have a hard time picturing him and Nic together, but I will trust Barton to pull it off.
This was an emotional and suspenseful (very graphic and gory also) read that I highly recommend. This was definitely one of Barton's best.
This was an emotional and suspenseful (very graphic and gory also) read that I highly recommend. This was definitely one of Barton's best.
Helpful Score: 1
In Chattanooga though her husband Judd would object to her showing off a house at night, realtor Jennifer Walker agrees to take a potential customer and his wife to see an expensive mansion. However, instead of a sale that she would use to furnish a nursery, the man slices off her hands before killing her. He leaves behind a rose and a devastated spouse, who hires his friend's Powell private investigative firm to uncover the identity of the killer.
Over the next three years and eight months, twenty-nine beauty queens starting with Jennifer have been butchered by the Beauty Queen Killer, but so far there is no progress in apprehending the culprit. Judd has stopped living except for his obsession to wrap his hands around the killer's neck. That is until now. Apparently in Williamstown, Kentucky Barbara Jean Hughes visiting her sister saved Gale Ann Cain's life after the killer sliced off her legs. Griff Powell sends former Chattanooga detective, employee Lindsay McAllister to see Judd, whom she fell in love with when she was still a cop while he grieved his loss then but now Judd shows interest as he demands to join the hunt for a deadly deranged predator.
THE DYING GAME is an action-packed cat and mouse thriller with several incredible yet plausible twists that will shake readers into leaving the lights on all night. The story line is fast-paced, but it is the psychologically damaged survivors like Judd and the sisters who make the tale real. A romantic subplot is deftly interwoven into Beverly Barton's tense thriller and readers will look forward to the sequel starring Griff and his FBI enemy combatant.
Harriet Klausner
Over the next three years and eight months, twenty-nine beauty queens starting with Jennifer have been butchered by the Beauty Queen Killer, but so far there is no progress in apprehending the culprit. Judd has stopped living except for his obsession to wrap his hands around the killer's neck. That is until now. Apparently in Williamstown, Kentucky Barbara Jean Hughes visiting her sister saved Gale Ann Cain's life after the killer sliced off her legs. Griff Powell sends former Chattanooga detective, employee Lindsay McAllister to see Judd, whom she fell in love with when she was still a cop while he grieved his loss then but now Judd shows interest as he demands to join the hunt for a deadly deranged predator.
THE DYING GAME is an action-packed cat and mouse thriller with several incredible yet plausible twists that will shake readers into leaving the lights on all night. The story line is fast-paced, but it is the psychologically damaged survivors like Judd and the sisters who make the tale real. A romantic subplot is deftly interwoven into Beverly Barton's tense thriller and readers will look forward to the sequel starring Griff and his FBI enemy combatant.
Harriet Klausner
Helpful Score: 1
Loved the characters but storyline got a little gross. Good enough that I'll read the next one too just to see what happens to the main players.
Helpful Score: 1
I decided to try a new author, and while I very much enjoyed this book, I warn that it isn't for those without an iron stomach. The book can be very graphic, almost gory - but still a good read if you can stomach it.
