Following her ordeal with a serial psychopath in Fetish, femme fatale Makedde Vanderwall picks herself up and heads back to Canada with her father. She returns to her studies in forensic psychology, gets some therapy and thinks her life is back to normal...Then girls start disappearing from her class and her ex from Australia turns up...
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In her second U.S. release, Australian crime novelist Moss sends her heroine, model and aspiring forensic psychologist Makedde Vanderwall, to a Vancouver campus, where a psychopath is picking off female students. The campus is also the site of a convention on psychopaths, which has drawn the world's best profilers—including Mak's old flame, Det. Andy Flynn. It's been a year since the events of Moss's Fetish, in which Flynn saved Mak from a killer, but Mak refuses to reconsider Flynn, even after her current boyfriend begins acting suspiciously. As the body count rises, Flynn (backed by the experts conveniently assembled for the conference) tries to stop the killer before he gets to Mak. Despite the contrived setup (heard the one about the serial killer at the profiler's convention?), Moss handles her subject easily and expertly, making her novel both immersive and believable. Though readers who haven't read Fetish may be confused by references to the Stiletto Killer and the death of Mak's mother, those with a strong stomach and a taste for violence—and who don't mind the occasional clunker ("Yikes. What's gotten into me?")—should be sucked in by this sexy, smart thriller. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
From AudioFile
Makedde (Mak) is haunted by insomnia and violent nightmares. Leaving Australia, she returns to Vancouver, resumes her studies in forensic psychology, begins therapy, and thinks her life is finally back to normal. One day Mak notices a young student has stopped attending classes. Later, she is reported missing. Then another student goes missing. So begins the downward spiral of this gripping psychological suspense story. Tara Moss's narration is lively, spirited, and exceptionally pleasant to hear, yet she doesn't differentiate between male and female characters, nor between Canadian and Australian accents. Her distinction between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorders is spot-on, while being flawless and tightly integrated into the plot. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A decent follow-up,
By
This review is from: Split (Mass Market Paperback)
The sequel to "Fetish," "Split" was a decent story, although it didn't dazzle me the way the debut story did. Makedde is back in Vacouver, BC and a year has passed since the tramautic events in Australia - she is trying to put them behind her, but she continues to have nightmares, and is suffering from insomnia. Being a student of forensic psychology and with plans to work with law enforcement officers with help them with PTSD, among other things, does she seek professional help herself? Nope - she denies she even has a problem to everyone. *rolling eyes* This is pretty much what bugged me about this book - her self-denial of the problem and reluctance to seek assistance for her issues after what happened to her in the previous book. Not only that, but her attitude toward Andy really bothered me - but that is just me. To reduce my rating by a full star because the attitude of the main character bothered me is strange, I know, but it did reduce the enjoyment of the book for me.
However, the story is good - a serial killer is stalking the college campus; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police discover shallow graves containing three bodies, all shot through the back of the head. It doesn't seem to be quite execution style - one officer suggests that it almost seems like hunting. The action heats up when Andy arrives with his mentor from Quantico to attend a panel about psychopaths and they are asked to assist. I hope that this series is continued. I think that there is a lot of promise here.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
strong suspense thriller,
This review is from: Split (Mass Market Paperback)
She appears to have gotten her life together, working as a model to pay for her Masters in Forensic Psychology at the University of Vancouver, but Makedde Vanderwall has never gotten over being kidnapped by the Stiletto Slasher in Australia. She knows she was lucky to have escaped thanks to the last minute rescue by her lover Detective Andrew Flynn. However, unable to cope with the near tragedy, she returned to her Vancouver home wanting nothing to do with her lover, who saw her at her most vulnerable.
A year later Makedde is unable to sleep and when she does snooze she suffers horrific nightmares. She has not been with a man since she left Andy, but campus security guard Roy Blake persuades her to step out with him a few times. Andy comes to the school to attend a symposium and to help the locals with a serial killer case in which college students are the victims. Makedde realizes she remains vulnerable with Andy and decides to avoid him and see Roy, but their paths will soon cross as she is the next target. The heroine is a spunky, assertive person who readers will care about as she tries to get over the trauma that still haunts her. Warm and caring Andy, who still loves her, seems too passive when it comes to persuading his beloved that they belong together so they never come across as a pair. Tara Moss creates a terrific protagonist starring in a suspenseful well written story line with a shocking and unforgettable climax. Harriet Klausner
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not much there...,
By H. Grove "Errant Dreams Reviews" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Split (Mass Market Paperback)
I'll start with the good: the plot was reasonably interesting, and it certainly held my attention at times. Some of the characters were unusual and quirky, which was nice. Throughout most of the book I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened next.
However, Split broke down in a lot of ways. The characterization was inconsistent; sometimes I had trouble believing someone was the same person from scene to scene. The internal monologues were overlong and tedious, drawing out the various characters' moping and wallowing until I just wanted to tell them to get over it and move the hell on. There was a distinct lack of chemistry between characters who needed it. I had difficulty believing that Mak and Andy were so irresistibly drawn to each other (not helped by the fact that Andy was a very one-dimensional character), and had almost as much difficulty believing that Mak and her new boyfriend were getting on so well. Side characters came and went with little reason. Mak's lesbian friend appeared partway through the book (after enough time had passed, frankly, that by the time she showed up I was shocked to find out Mak had any friends) and only stayed long enough to serve as the requisite shocking, funny, sex-crazed gay friend. The interminable interior monologues marred the book in other ways as well. For one, they hid the fact that when you strip them away, there really isn't a huge amount of plot to this book and very little mystery either. For another, they derailed the pacing at ever opportunity, even during the climax of the book. Yes, the climax of this thriller/mystery got derailed by interior monologue. That's about the worst thing you can do to a book of this genre; after all, you can commit many other sins, but you'll be forgiven if you have a gripping climax. If not... Well. This isn't a horrid book, certainly not one of the worst I've read, but I don't particularly recommend it either. Nothing about it is particularly interesting or gripping, and parts of it are downright boring--one of the last things you want to hear about a `thriller.'
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