Customer Reviews

A Thin Dark Line

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

A Thin Dark Line returns to the French Triangle, the setting of two earlier books, Lucky's Lady and Cry Wolf. Those of you who have not already read Cry Wolf may want to read it before reading Thin Dark Line as the killer and the victims in Cry Wolf are revealed in Thin Dark Line.

A few years after the Bayou Strangler's reign of terror is ended, Bayou Breaux again terrorized by a killer. After a prominent businesswoman's mutilated body is found, her accused stalker is investigated and arrested for the murder. Charges of corruption in the Sheriff's Office, tainted evidence, and a legal technicality set Marcus Renard free. Renard now focuses his obsession on Sheriff's Deputy Annie Broussard, the officer who found the body. Broussard feels an obligation to the murdered woman, and to the woman's child, to find and punish her killer.

Deciding to use Renard's obsession to get close enough to him to prove his guilt, Annie is caught in a dangerous crossfire. Her only ally is Detective Nick Fourcade, a rogue cop with a reputation of corruption and violence. Annie can't be sure if Fourcade is helping her or using her, since it was his investigation, his evidence, and his mistake that allowed a brutal murderer go free. Fourcade's only hope of redeeming himself and his reputation is in the hands of the woman most likely to die next.

This was the first Tami Hoag book I ever read, and what brought me to check out city, were three things: the Louisiana setting (no place like it); the packaging (red attracts me like a bull); and that enchanting storyline on the back cover.

From page one, I was captivated by Annie's courage and wit. I love a determined female protaganist who fights for what she wants, and Nick--well, let's just say, we need more men like him.

A murderer goes free based on a technicality, and a town is embroiled in a lynching type of mentality. Annie, is a straight-arrow deputy, whose loyalties are challenged when she is forced to arrest fellow officer, Nick, who is beating the acquitted murderer, Marcus to a pulp in a darkened alley.

The story is awesome, especially when set against a Cajun background, and with that spicy, local flavor thrown into the mix, how could you go wrong?

Harrowing and smoldering by turns, I loved reading--experiencing--this book. The setting was fantastic, the characters gripping. The story and plot were woven together with enough spice and chill and flair to truly hold my interest. I've just discovered Tami Hoag with "Guilty as Sin", but I enjoyed "A Thin Dark Line" even more. Similar to the former, I could only read a few chapters at a time; it's rather like eating very rich food: a taste is stupendous, it fills you up quickly, too much is a shock to the system, but it always leaves you wanting more. Excellent.

This was the first book I read by Tami Hoag. I got it for free from a friend of mine and I couldn't put it down. I'm 16 and I have to admit that I actually skipped school one day to finish it. Of course, when I got the book that came before it, a lot more of A Thin Dark Line made sense. I would recommend reading that first. I think the best part of this book is the language Hoag uses to tell the story. The characters sound a lot like the people I see every day instead of stilted characters of other novels. The book starts out with a poem that really got me into the book. The way it was laid out on the page and the words written grabbed me right then and there. Annie Broussard is a deputy in the Lousiana bayou, which is a profession dominated by men. Nick Fourcade is a detective that made a few mistakes. Together, they try to solve the murder of Pamela Bichon. The killer is on the loose, and is after them now. But the answer to the murder isn't all that Nick and Annie discover. I wouldn't want to spoil the entire book, so enjoy!

This book is almost 600 pages long. The first chapters are a bit confusing as it jumps back and forth between a killer's thoughts and reality. Plus, there are a lot of characters names to familiarize yourself with at the start and this can be a bit much. The french-cajun phrases did throw me off at first, but then I finally found the glossary of terms at the end of the book. The first 150 pages are slow and tedius, but set the background. I think a lot of this could have been summed up quicker, but if you can make it past that point, the suspense does begin to build quickly and does not stop until the very end.

This plot was a bit creepy in the sense that I found myself checking the locks on the doors as I read late into the night. It did not help that the story line is about a serial rapist/killer who sneaks into women's homes at night when they are in bed and alone, which I was when I read this book. All in all, I would have to say that for a susense/thriller it was fairly decent.

There is even a touch of romance thrown into the plot, but you don't see any signs of that until near page 200. The one thing I did like about that in comparison to other romantic suspense novels is that the relationship seemed a bit more realistic in the sense that it was not instant. Over the course of working together side by side and having their lives turned upside down, the two find themselves bonding with one another when they normally would have held up their defenses. The only part of this that bothered me was that in a book of almost 600 pages, you would think that the author would really express what emotions the characters were feeling or some more of their past that made them who they were. Both of them were tough, and stubborn cops who clearly had a haunted past, but not much of that was mentioned. Brief sentences hinted to more, but the story line was never developed.

Clearly, the main focus was on justice and injustice. The thin line between right and wrong and how people deal with that. It was not the best Tami Hoag book that I have read, but if it was enough to scare me into checking the locks, than I give it four stars. It will keep you guessing up until the end, even if you think you know who did it, you are never quite sure until the truth is revealed.

A Thin Dark Line returns to the French Triangle, the setting of two earlier books, Lucky's Lady and Cry Wolf. Those of you who have not already read Cry Wolf may want to read it before reading Thin Dark Line as the killer and the victims in Cry Wolf are revealed in Thin Dark Line.

A few years after the Bayou Strangler's reign of terror is ended, Bayou Breaux again terrorized by a killer. After a prominent businesswoman's mutilated body is found, her accused stalker is investigated and arrested for the murder. Charges of corruption in the Sheriff's Office, tainted evidence, and a legal technicality set Marcus Renard free. Renard now focuses his obsession on Sheriff's Deputy Annie Broussard, the officer who found the body. Broussard feels an obligation to the murdered woman, and to the woman's child, to find and punish her killer.

Deciding to use Renard's obsession to get close enough to him to prove his guilt, Annie is caught in a dangerous crossfire. Her only ally is Detective Nick Fourcade, a rogue cop with a reputation of corruption and violence. Annie can't be sure if Fourcade is helping her or using her, since it was his investigation, his evidence, and his mistake that allowed a brutal murderer go free. Fourcade's only hope of redeeming himself and his reputation is in the hands of the woman most likely to die next.

This is the first Tami Hoag book I've read. This thriller is typical of other whodoit books out currently. Annie Broussard is a novice cop looking to make detective one day. A savage murder to a woman occurs in Bayo Breaux (of course cajun Louisianna) that Annie starts following, even though its not her case. When the suspect gets off on a technicality is when things start to really heat up. Fourcade, your typical brooding detective goes for a little vigilante justice. Annie breaks it up and incurs the wrath of the department. Annie and Fourcade team up to try to solve the case.

Things I enjoyed about the book: The setting and cajun talk in the book were believable and made you really feel you were there. Annie and Fourcade were well written and made you really understand and root for them.

Things I didn't enjoy: The trash talk in the Sherriff's office was a bit too much. I know that sounds prudish; I enjoy some to make it "authentic" like in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books but this seemed a bit over the top. I thought Tami Hoag overplayed how much happens to Annie--too many bad problems kept happening decreased the believability for me. The ending didn't fit as well as I thought it could have.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it.

I won't rehash the plot since it has been mentioned several times. I did enjoy this more than Cry Wolf, I liked the characters of Annie and Nick. I also really liked AJ and felt really bad, wanted a little more resolution on that issue. I like her mysteries because she throws a few possibilites at you while at the same time making the killer pretty obvious but makes you second guess yourself. I actually felt bad for Marcus which is pretty sick since he was a stalker but she did put a sympathetic light on him by showing his difficult home life. I think he wanted to be loved by someone and needed someone so much but didn't know how to go about it. I hated feeling bad for him since he was a real serious stalker. I don't know why she tried to put that sympathetic light on him or maybe that is just how I perceived it.

I liked Annie for her independence and humor - I liked that she could go toe to toe with the cops. I liked Nick's character as well and enjoyed that he wasn't your typical "player" hero and took sex seriously.

All in all, I enjoyed this and didn't mind the length at all because it just took you in until you had to find out who the rapist and killer were.

I think a few ends were left loose in this one though.....AJ, Donnie, Stokes. What was the deal with Stokes?

I must admit that Cry Wolf was not a favorite of mine but the follow-up novel was great!

We return to Bayou Breaux and there has been another grizzly murder but instead of justice being served the bad guy gets away and the area is in shock. Not only is this going on but there is another rapist on the loose attacking young single women in their homes raping them, and leaving them behind only this time the victims live. Is this the work of Marcus the man just released from prison or is the Bayou Strangler still alive and well, or is there a new hunter on the loose? With all of this going on Nick Fourcard the detective on the Pam Bichon case is having a hard time with the fact that the bad guy has walked and is in a situation where Bayou justice just might work. Annie Brousard a deputy stops Nick from beating Marcus to death and arrests him. This starts a chain of events that neither Nick or Annie can believe. Nick and Annie are now working together to see that justice is served for Pam Bichon but the answers that they find along the way are unbelievable.

There is a great chemistry between Nick and Annie then add the sultry setting of South Lousiana plus a murder mystery and you have the makings for a great read. You will be surprised by the ending due to all of the twist and turns the story makes. A great way to spend the weekend!

Taking a few threads from previous novels, Tami Hoag's A THIN DARK LINE centers around the murder of a young real estate agent in a small Louisiana town. Spearheading the investigation is hot-headed(and not particularly level-headed)detective Nick Fourcade, who early on in the book manages to get himself thrown from the investigation and ultimately suspended after beating the prime suspect to within an inch of his life. He then relies on the help of Annie Broussard, a police deputy not particularly
liked by in the precinct(mostly it seems because she's a woman). While Hoag drops a few more suspects in throughout the book, you'd be hardpressed to guess who the murderer ends up being--I was definately surprised. For the most part, Hoag has a good grasp of narrative, though she probably could have cut the page count on this significantly had she been more concise more often. Overall, Hoag will keep you in suspense enough throughout to keep you sticking around 'til the end.