Customer Reviews

The Kill

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Olivia St. Martin lives daily with the knowledge that as a young child she was unable to prevent the abduction and murder of her older sister, Missy. She has only the small satisfaction that her testimony resulted in the murderer's imprisonment.

Olivia is the director of the Trace Evidence and Materials Analysis division of the FBI in Virginia. When she learns that DNA evidence proves that Brian Hall did not murder Missy, Olivia is determined to find the truth.

Her investigation reveals that a serial killer has been on the loose for years. He surfaced in New York several years after Missy's murder and then appeared in Kansas, Atlanta, Nashville and other cities. His twenty-nine victims in thirty-four years were all blonde females between the ages of 9 and 12. Olivia's boss refuses to involve the agency so she travels on her own to Washington State where two of the recent murders occurred.

In Washington she joins Seattle Police Detective Zack Travis' investigation. They begin to work closely together to hunt the killer--and become romantically involved. Time is running out and Olivia struggles to solve the case and prevent more murders.

Allison Brennan does murder better than almost everyone writing in the romantic suspense genre does. She writes scintillating thrillers that keep you turning the pages until you breathlessly reach the conclusion. And then you want more. She is becoming one of my favorite authors.

Armchair Interviews says: For other exciting thrillers by Allison Brennan, read The Prey and The Hunt.

This is the third book in the trilogy, and I found all of them to be generic and predictable. The plots are like Lifetime Movies. They aren't awful, but they are certainly not unique. I should have given it two stars.

I agree with the previous reviews in that this one moved a little slow and took a little longer to read. I am not from Seattle, actually I have never been there, so the apparent errors in geography did not effect my enjoyment of the book. I still think it's worth the purchase price and will continue to read her work.

After reading her first two books, I knew what to expect with the third and wasn't disappointed like some of the other reviewers. I like the fact that the romance isn't in your face or contrived but the attraction slowly works up to believable results. Good plots in all three books - yes, they're similar but I find no fault with that. Olivia and Zack were both very likeable. My favorite is still the first in series. Looking forward to her next three books.

I read both The Prey and The Hunt (this book's predecessors), and found them to be above average thrillers. I enjoyed them enough to eagerly pick up the The Kill to see how the trilogy would end. However, while the plot description sounded like it would make for another fast paced read, this one was surprisingly slow.

Aside from it being slower paced than the other two, I was also disappointed by the similarities in her plots. It wasn't until I'd read the third and looked back at them as a trilogy that I realized it was sort of like reading the same book over and over. Each story centers around a woman with a very tramautic and violent past. As a result, the woman becomes a jaded adult afraid to let anyone in. Enter hero who falls for the woman's crusty exterior and teaches her to love. All three stories also make an attempt with a back-up love interest, making for luke warm love triangles. This in itself is not bad, but by the third story, lack of originality was disappointing.

I too agree with the reviewer who criticized the errors. I don't consider myself too much of a stickler for accuracy and don't go out of my way to look for errors, but being from Seattle myself, I couldn't help but notice the glaring inaccuracies of this book. Not that they really affect the story as a whole, but they do signal a lack of attention by the author/editor.

Overall, this wasn't a horrible read. I did finish it, and was mildly interested to see how it would end. However, it's definetly a "take it or leave it" kind of novel. If you're dying to finish off the trilogy, this isn't horrible. But if you've never picked up Brennan before, read The Prey and The Hunt instead.

For over thirty-four years, scientist Olivia St. Martin an ex-FBI agent, has lived with the guilt of not being able to save her sister Missy from being abducted and killed. As she was a child at the time, there was really nothing she could have done. However, new DNA evidence has come to light which exonerates the man she testified against and put behind bars for the murder of her sister. Meanwhile, Detective Zack Travis, and his new partner, Nelson Boyd, discover another child's body dumped in an industrial estate. She too has some of her hair missing which indicates a possible collector, meaning that her murderer could in fact be a serial killer.

As the director of Trace Evidence and Materials Analysis, based at the FBI's Virginian laboratory, Olivia St. Martin goes on a vacation to Seattle, where she believes the killer will strike next. Determined to uncover the truth, Olivia sets out for justice, and works with Zack, posing as an FBI agent who will help him track down the killer. Of course, as she gets closer to revealing the truth, her involvement with Detective Travis blossoms to the point of total distraction...

The third and final part is The Kill, and I am pleased the author has sustained the quality, pace and taught suspense of the two previous books in this trilogy. I liked the way the characters Rowan, (The Prey), Miranda (The Hunt) and Olivia (The Kill) were all connected, yet, each story can be read as a stand alone novel and make perfect, albeit chilling, sense!
I suspect a huge amount of research spanning the entire trilogy has been undertaken, from forensic science, to the American prison system, which shows in Allison Brennan's writing skill. She really appears to get inside the mind of a murderer like you would expect a professional to do!
Without doubt, the heat in this romance tops the rest. I genuinely felt that, despite all they go through, the two characters, Olivia and Zack, just "clicked" and were meant to be together; but does it all turn out right in the end? After all, what makes Allison Brennan's work so exciting is the mixture of ecstasy and torment she puts her characters through!

Allison Brennan has handed her readers yet another incredible thriller. Olivia St. Martin as "Livie" has lived with survivor's guilt since the death of her older sister. The only thing helping her make it through each day is knowing the man who abducted her sister - the man she testified against - is behind bars...until DNA turns him loose.

The story takes off and never slows down while she joins forces with Police Detective Zack Travis to stop a serial killer on the loose.

Allison's first two brilliant novels were just a warm up for THE KILL.

I absolutely adore Allison Brennan's books. Although I have not read one if a very long time, they were always page turners, suspenseful, and I could never put the books down. I enjoyed her way of having the books suspenseful mysteries, with a little romance thrown in with the hero in the book, whether it was the cop, detective, or other hero in the book. Some of her books spooked me out a little, and I can only describe it as me making sure my back was against the wall, and that I could see every inch of the room I was in. Great books, great reads, great author, really recommend!

Book was great. came fast and was in great shape. I recommend ordering this book!

I gave this book 4 stars because Olivia was the most likeable of the three heroines in the trilogy. However, I thought this book read slower than the others and dragged on way too long. When they were out hunting the killer, I couldn't believe there were still over 100 pages to go.

Try the later trilogies -- they're much better. But in lieu of anything else to read, this is a good bet.