3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe I Should Have Started Earlier., October 11, 2009
This review is from: Love Kills (Britt Montero Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)
This is the first Britt Montero book I have read, and I found it a bit confusing since I didn't know any of the characters or their backstories. The author didn't do enough to explain their relationships with Britt, so I had no idea who was important to her and who was not. In the end it didn't matter too much because she didn't listen to any of them, but it would have been nice to know whether this was her normal behavior or was due to "hormones", as she kept insisting. Most pregnant women would not have behaved as she did.
If I put the pregnancy aside, the rest of the story was pretty good. Liked the was Buchanan wove the three sub-plots together, though I thought the denouement of each segment was a bit too abrupt. The child snatcher ending was anti-climctic, though the twist in the serial killer more than made up for it. However, the whole BOOK had no ending, and I'm not a fan of that type of cliff-hanger. I'll have to go back and read some of the earlier books before I decide whether I want to wait for the next Britt Montero.
Reviewed by: Renee S. N.Y.C.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Thrilling Read, and One of Buchanan's Best!, June 9, 2007
About an hour ago I finished reading this new novel and Ms. Buchanan has surely outdone herself this time! There are some characters in the novel I didn't trust, and rightfully so, but never would have guessed the reasons WHY I shouldn't have trusted them! I feel that this ranks among Buchanan's best fiction, alongside The Ice Maiden and Act of Betrayel, among others. We've had to wait four long years for another Britt novel, but here she is back, and with the guys from the Cold Case Squad too. The two sets of characters mesh fine together in this one novel.
I've been lucky enough to meet Ms. Buchanan (twice) and it's nice to see how down-to-earth and friendly she is to her fans. She signed several books for my friends and myself and chatted with us for quite a while.
Enough said, go out and read this book already!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Life can spin out of control in a heartbeat.", June 20, 2007
In Edna Buchanan's "Love Kills," Miami-based crime reporter Britt Montero is hurting. Her lover, homicide cop Kendell McDonald, has died and Britt has been living on a remote island, grieving and licking her wounds. One day, Britt's friend, Lottie Dane, unexpectedly shows up and gives Britt a dose of tough love. She hounds Britt to come to terms with the past, get back to work, and move on with her life. Since Montero has run out of money anyway, she decides to ask for her old job back at the Miami News.
Waiting in Britt's mailbox are numerous messages from the Cold Case Squad. It seems that the body of Spencer York, known as the "Custody Crusader," has been found buried in a Florida construction site. Montero was well acquainted with York, who had been a publicity hound with an enormous ego. He was also a misogynist, who considered all divorced mothers to be "greedy sluts" and bad parents. York took it upon himself to balance the scales of justice by snatching hundreds of children from their divorced mothers and delivering the kids to their fathers. During his career, he abducted more than two hundred children. Spencer York was "rude, crude, and obnoxious," and many people wanted him dead, but who actually shot him in the back of the head?
In addition, Britt gets up close and personal with a handsome and slick Lothario who loves 'em and leaves 'em--dead. His heavily insured and extremely gullible wives invariably get into accidents; they fall, drown, break their necks, and generally fail to return from their honeymoons in one piece. Britt takes it upon herself to stop this sociopath before he claims more victims.
The first half of "Love Kills" is terrific. Britt is a lively and effervescent character who immediately gains the reader's empathy. She is a loose cannon--a courageous, impulsive, and determined newswoman who is determined to get her story, even if it means disobeying orders and endangering her life in the process. Buchanan's style is breezy, the mystery is suspenseful, and the dialogue is brisk and amusing. Britt is on uneasy terms with Cold Case Squad lieutenant Kathleen Constance Riley, who was Kendell McDonald's high school sweetheart and still resents Britt for taking him away from her. "Love Kills" would have been a quintessential recommended beach read except for the off-the-wall conclusion, in which Buchanan bypasses logic in the interest of excitement and surprise. However, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, you will find this a diverting enough summer thriller about the price women pay when they marry Mr. Wrong.
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