Dead Shot [Mass Market Paperback]

Annie Solomon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Famous for her depictions of violence, photographer Gillian Gray is no stranger to controversy. When demonstrators protest the opening of an exhibit of her work, Detective Ray Pearce is hired as her bodyguard. Soon, murdered victims start to turn up--posed in scenes from Gillian's horrific photos. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Solomon hits the ground running with this gripping romantic thriller, pitting an obsessed artist against an even more obsessed fan. Still haunted by the 20-year-old murder of her famous fashion model mother, young photographer Gillian Gray is exhibiting a series of controversial self-portraits that show her posed in various grisly deathscapes. Giving her instant celebrity, the photos have also made her the target of conservative community groups, particularly in her hometown of Nashville. To keep her safe while she's home, Gillian's wealthy family contracts a bodyguard, staid ex-cop Ray Pierce. He realizes he may have his work cut out for him when Gillian kicks off her exhibit by challenging her mother's killer, via a crowd of reporters, to "come and get me." Indeed, it isn't long before someone begins sending out a photographic series of his own, recreating Gillian's images using the genuine article—dead women. Solomon's characters are convincing and compelling, especially Gillian, who makes an engaging heroine: smart, willful and profoundly damaged. Solomon's plot is good, suspenseful fun, but her ending is disappointingly off-target. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Raised in luxury, Gillian is shaped by tragedy. Her mother, a model, was murdered when Gillian was seven, and her wealthy grandparents raised her. Gillian has made a name for herself as an artist by creating gruesome photographs of herself as a murder victim. She is trying to attract her mother's killer, and now, in her hometown of Nashville, her wish may come true as an exhibit of her artwork has attracted protests and a copycat killer who is reenacting her portraits. Ray Pearce has the unenviable task of trying to protect her. He is a flawed hero who has failed both to save his marriage and anyone dear to him. Yet he willingly becomes Gillian's bodyguard and confronts her death wish, hoping to give her something to live for. Solomon's psychologically rich romantic thriller balances grisly imagery with tender moments and is entertaining, through and through. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Warner Forever; hardcover edition (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044661632X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446616324
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is the dumbest plan to catch a killer ever, January 8, 2008

By 

Music Lover in Omaha (Omaha, Ne) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dead Shot (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book and right from the beginning, I was thinking: "What the H... is going on here?" In order to capture a killer from her past, Gillian decides to become a world famous photographer. Okay, I guess that's easy enough to do. Who cares if she has any talent or not. She just needs to be a famous photographer so she can draw a killer out by taking and displaying pictures of murders with herself as the victim. Talk about having patience to make a plan work!! Then, people start dying as a serial killer recreates the pictures Gillian puts on display. Thank you, Gillian for goading a serial killer into commiting more murders and then giving suggestions on how to do his work. No wonder people picket her art displays. Gillian is as much responsible for the murders as the killer. Would Jack McCoy on Law and Order have a field day with this scenario or what? So this plan is hatched, knowing that success depends on Gillian's photos becoming well renowned as great art, and then the killer must see the pictures to draw him out into the open. Fortunately the plan included stumbling into a hunk of a rogue ex-cop to assist Gillian in her plan. Really, who has this kind of patience? Would you really want to hatch a plan of revenge that takes like years on the one in a million chance that it might work at all? No, maybe hire a real investigator to do some real investigating. This plot was just stupid. Well, maybe stupid is the wrong word. How about dumb, moronic, idiotic or just plain nuts? Sorry, but I saw nothing in this book to recommend it. Unpleasant characters and a ridiculous plot make this one a big miss for me.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars no likeable characters, June 22, 2009

By 

bijou2311 "bijou2311" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dead Shot (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok, so our heroine decides to become a famous controversial artist by creating photographs that depict her dead by various methods and in various settings. She does this to draw out the man who murdered her mother years ago - a man she only vaguely remembers in her nightmares. She gets protection from an ex-cop who is still hung up on his ex-wife's family (yes her family).

As you can sort of tell from the very short synopsis above, I wasn't crazy about the characters. I sort of see where Gillian is coming from about wanting to catch her mother's killer and trying to draw him out, but it was never explained why she thought that pictures of her dead would do draw this guy out. Not to mention her behavior is suicidal and crazy. I didn't like her at all. And her grandparents were way odd, and never really explained, I just couldn't decide if I liked them or not. And Ray was just annoying, masochistic and wishy-washy. They both sort of had potential but just floundered around. There was just way too many random things going on - the deal about Gillian's father identity, her mother's murder, Ray's ex-wife's family, Ray's idiotic behavior, etc.

Very definitely the worst books I've read by this author. I would not recommend it at all. The only reason I gave it two stars is because I actually finished it (albeit skimming some towards the end). And for some reason I saw potential in the plot if not the execution. I tried other books by this author and while they are not the best books I've ever read they are acceptable. Try one of those - especially the more recent ones. Skip this one, lots of plot holes, too many loose strings and poor follow through.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I have never sympathized with a serial killer more..., April 7, 2007

By 

S. Wilkins "Catspaw" (Carrollton, Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Shot (Mass Market Paperback)

The heroine, Gillian, is an obnoxious, self obsessed rich girl who does her best to endanger and infuriate everyone around her, while being lauded and hated for her "art" - faux crime scene photos of a particularly gory kind. Our hero is a mildly likeable ex-cop body guard who can't let go of his ex-wife and her family, but nevertheless masochistically keeps returning to help out Gillian, as she stupidly runs headlong into danger, without any semblance of rational thought. Even scaring her frail grandmother into two near heart attacks doesn't elicit an apology or moment of self-examination from our overprivileged bubble head of a heroine. The only pain, feelings, or goals that matter are her own, even though they show no evidence of depth or intelligence.

The serial killer was a cardboard cut out, given no motivation whatsoever for his acts. He was the most sympathetic character of them all, and by the time I was a third of the way through the book I was rooting for him, but alas, he did not prevail.