Customer Reviews

Flashpoint

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Homicide Detective Sonora Blair is a single mother,raising two young children and coping with the strain of just being a Homicide Detective with its entree into the world of evil. Sometimes, the sheer horror of her job, much as she loves it, overwhelms her, leaving her with a burning ulcer and horrifying nightmares. A madwoman who looks frighteningly like Sonora, begins a reign of terror against men, tricking them into situations where she handcuffs them to the steering wheel of their cars, douses them with petrol and sets them alight. When the madwoman threatens the lives of her children, Sonora lives with the daily horror of leaving them to go to work and resorts to leaving them with her brother, but when her brother dies in the same violent way, Sonora is driven to the point of breakdown and the questioning of her choice of professions. While it's terrifying to think that this kind of evil madness exists, Lynn Hightower nevertheless writes a tight, fascinating crime story which keeps you reading, long after lights out.

Being from Southern Ohio, this book was like reading something about someone I knew. It was homey and the characters were easy to respond to and understand. The entire story flowed gracefully from one point to the next. Any one who can mention Ale 8 One in a novel is a readable author in my book.

Men getting burned alive in a car - a serial killer- is how things begins. Specialist Blair has things figured out and finds out who the perp is, just can't quite get her hands on the perp. Intriguing, exciting. Blair has her own ups & downs in this thing which adds to the excitement. Blair eventually gets her hands on this perp after losing someone close to her. This is the first book I have read by Hightower and I just may buy the other two she has written, There is never a boring moment in the whole book. I would encourage you to give this one a try, well written and flows well.

And doesn't that say it all ? Lynn Hightower has great use of language and easy realistic imagery.....she really lets you to "see" locations, character's facial expressions, and maybe more importantly, she builds suspense slowly.

Some books make the reader do a lot of the work, piecing together incomplete or disjointed chunks of the novel, but not this time. This is a book that is easy to "fall into"; it's a hard book to put down.

And even though technically a whodunit crime book, FLASHPOINT is not an ugly look at American society. It's more a study of the protagonist, Sonora, and her life as a Mom, sister, partner, detective, and woman and how she deals with the divergent aspects of her life.

It's a great book and an easy one to recommend.

This was my first novel of Ms Hightowers that I read. I have since read several of her others (Satan's Lambs and Eyeshot (I like it better than this one). Her plots are simple and very easy to follow. If you want a challenge to keep up - don't expect it from her in these early novels of hers. I intend to read some of her more current novels to see if she has developed her writing skills. I would recommend her Sonora Blair novels to any mystery fan - again they are light and easy reads. Great for a couple hour flight!!

This was my first Lynn Hightower novel. Believe me when I tell you that it definetly has not been my only! This novel grips you from the first few chapters and doesn't let go until the very end! The plot is simple but very interesting! I read this book int two days, which is amazing considering I work full time, attend night classes and have a toddler at home! I highly recommend this novel to anyone that loves mysteries!!!!

GREAT DETAIL. GRIPS THE READER FROM CHAPTER ONE. YOU WILL NOT PUT THIS ONE DOWN UNTIL YOU ARE ON THE LAST PAGE. THEN, YOU WILL RUN OUT TO GET COPIES OF HER OTHER BOOKS. WILL WE EVER SEE KEETON AGAIN? I KEEP SENDING LYNN MESSAGES TO BRING HIM BACK.

Homicide Detective Sonora Blair envisions Dante's Inferno and thinks that this is what these men have gone through.

A truly riveting novel about a pyscho killer and a female homicide detective. Lynn S. Hightower, knows how to write and twist the insides of her readers. Insightful look into the feelings of her characters, love, hate, fear, desire are all captured masterfully.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly and with no fingernails left!

Excellent story and thoughtful characters, though they are not lovable characters, the plot was great. Then the end of the story came and it was pretty pitiful for an ending. Ms. Hightower needs to work on her character development and continue to tell the story without getting side tracked like she does. The concept of the story is great and the plot keeps you glued to the pages, but that still does not save this book.

I was a bit surprised that I did not really care very much about the heroine, did not empathize with her. I was bothered by much of the plot; there were what I considered gratuitous killings-too many and not always necessary or predictable in the plot. The antagonist was under-developed as a character; the reader should have had more of a repulsion for her. Finally, as a Cincinnatian, I was appalled by the incorrect, sometimes ludicrous, information about Cincinnati. Since the author is from nearby Lexington, I was surprised, maybe amused, by this.