The Devil's Backbone [Hardcover]

Kim Wozencraft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2006

Two sisters. One murder. And a woman who will cross the line to uncover a killer's secrets.
 
Though they are sisters, Kit and Jenny could not be more different. Jenny is the dutiful daughter, following in her father's footsteps to become a Texas cop. Now working as a detective in the Austin Police Department, Jenny is surprised when she sees a crime report with her sister's name on it.
 
Kit is the rebellious one, hiding from her past. She's trying to escape the fallout of her mother's death, and the gravitational pull of her father's expectations. Working as a stripper, Kit is living in a nighttime world of pseudonyms and lies. And she's begun to notice some new characters hanging around the club.
 
Suddenly, one sister's murder leads to the other's investigation of it, and brings her into a world more deadly than she can imagine. As the truth unfolds, one sister begins to question everything---even her own sanity---and the role she might have played in this lethal dance. The Devil's Backbone showcases Kim Wozencraft at her best: a novelist whose power to shock and compel you is unsurpassed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In Wozencraft's brilliant third psychological thriller (after 2004's Wanted), Katherine "Kit" Metcalf must contend with post-traumatic stress (she was raped as a college student) and face her ultimate fear, her Texas Ranger dad, Wade, who hides immoral appetites behind a heroic image. A former realtor, Kit now pole dances for Blaze, "Austin's premier gentleman's club," though in order to do so she numbs herself with alcohol. Her sister, Jenny, an Austin police detective investigating a porn ring, is about to marry Luke Saner, an undercover cop looking into the murder of a Blaze regular. When Jenny's body later turns up in a Blanco County well, Kit seeks therapy and unwittingly puts her therapist (and herself) in danger. As the pace quickens, whom can she trust? Luke? Her dad? With eloquent prose that's unflinchingly honest, Wozencraft charts Kit's crusade for justice, revealing not only the rocky terrain of grief, addiction and rape recovery but also the smooth shores of survival. (Sept.)
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Review

"The Devil's Backbone is a riveting study of psychological terror and ultimate betrayal, and a complex and compelling tale of a woman who journeys through the perilous territory of her own past to find answers to her sister's brutal murder. Kim Wozencraft's heroine is gritty, profane, and utterly compelling---you won't put this book down until the final shattering pages."
--Barbara Parker, author of Suspicion of Rage

"The Devil's Backbone is an experience: You live it as much as you read it, feeling in your own body every racing heartbeat and every degree of its merciless Texas heat. It is headlong, unremitting, and deeply passionate. Readers better make sure their seat belts are properly secured."
--Luc Sante, author of Low Life and Evidence.

"Wanted boasts impressively authentic detail. . . . Wozencraft's plainly spoken, richly populist style serves the material well, and the story moves faster than a speeding police car."
--Entertainment Weekly
"[Wozencraft] writes with equal authority and pathos about [the character's] opposing worlds…a deftly told jailbreak caper that provokes thought and goose bumps."
--People on Wanted
"Wozencraft writes with nervy brilliance…the novel switches from procedural to prison story to escape novel…without losing momentum. A chiller."
--Booklist on Wanted
"Fast and literate suspense…gripping all the way."
--Kirkus Reviews on Wanted
"For addicted crime-novel readers desperate for a fix, here's some methadone."
--San Francisco Chronicle on Wanted

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312290632
• ISBN-13: 978-0312290634
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,484,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Sisters

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating characters, gripping plot, November 13, 2006

By 

N. Larrabee (Tarrytown, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Backbone (Hardcover)

Kit Metcalf wakes up in a park and does not remember how she got there. She's works as a dancer in a gentleman's club called Blaze's in Austin. Kit could not be more different than her sister Jenny. Jenny is a detective, engaged to be married soon. Kit meets Luke, Jenny's fiancé who has been working undercover at Blaze's. Kit was able to fend off an attacker in the club's parking lot. She could barely handle the news that her sister was murdered. Not knowing who to trust, she decides to counseling. Dr. Wolfe is soon threatened to stop seeing Kit and physically attacked. Another dancer from the club, Cheryl is found dead. She can't help but feel she's next. Kit needs to trust Luke as she tries to help him investigate Jenny's death. Complex, psychological thriller that is hard to put down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NOT a fan, November 2, 2008

By 

Kimberly Sandler "Kimsita" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Backbone (Hardcover)

This book left so many unanswered questions. I was totally dissatisfied - the ending is so anti-climatic. One of the biggest mysteries in the book was neglected to be answered and NOT in good way. It left me with nothing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tense psychological thriller, October 9, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Backbone (Hardcover)

Katherine "Kit" Metcalf and her sister Jenny reacted differently to the family dynamics after their mom died. Whereas Jenny obeyed their martinet father by becoming a cop like him and is engaged to an undercover police officer, Kit chose philosophy in college and avoided anything remotely involving law enforcement. Adding to Kit's estrangement is a rape that she never has come to terms with or gotten over. In anger towards all males, Kit becomes a stripper at Austin's Blaze gentleman's club where she can safely tease men with glass between her and them.

However, the dynamics change again when Austin police detective Jenny, investigating a porn ring and related murder tied to Blaze, is found dead. Needing to obtain justice for the sister she feels she let down, Kit begins to obtain therapy with psychiatrist Dr. Emily Wolfe and investigates her sibling's murder over the objections of everyone she knows. However one objector has personal reasons to prevent Kit from succeeding either with therapy or her case. That adversary attacks Dr. Wolfe and steals Kit's file. Kit ponders if it is her dad, her late sister's fiancé Luke Saner, or someone else close to her who needs the truth to remain buried perhaps in her subconscious mind.

More a psychological thriller than an amateur sleuth tale, fans of both sub-genres and anyone who appreciates a deep character study will want to read this superb candid tale. The story line is action-packed, but it is the psyche of Kit that grips the audience as she grieves with no help from her stiff upper lip family who didn't help her when her mom died. Kim Wozencraft provides an incredible look at a woman over the edge without a safety net. The Devil's Backbone is a chillingly thrilling tale.

Harriet Klausner