B. McEwan's profile

OK but doesn't live up to its hype, July 9, 2009

Twisted Triangle is a good true crime story and it highlights the sexism that can manifest in situations of domestic abuse, which is an under-reported issue. Even though most of the action described in the book took place in the 1990s, even today many people discount the threat that an alienated husband can pose to his wife. In the case of Margo and Gene Bennett, whose tale is told here, Gene clearly planned to harm his wife, yet he was able to fool law enforcement professionals into thinking that Margo was overstating the danger he posed to her and their children. I believe the reason for this is less that Gene was a master manipulator than that the mostly male FBI and police personnel… Read more

Very good, even without Bosch, July 6, 2009

I bought this book thinking it was another in the Harry Bosch series, then realized that it is related to Bosch only tangentially. One of the heros of Scarecrow, Jack McEvoy, the is same character that appeared in Connelly's earlier novel, The Poet, which indirectly connects to Bosch. That said, I ended up being glad I had purchased The Scarecrow, as it has a very good plot and I really like the way Connelly has developed the McEvoy character.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found the plot of this novel quite believable, as cyber crime is increasing and it seems logical to me that people will use the Web just as much for evil purposes as for good. I love the opening of… Read more

Inventive and entertaining, but beware the gore, June 30, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Evil at Heart is the third novel in author Chelsea Cain's series about Portland, Oregon detective Archie Sheridan and his nemesis, serial killer Gretchen Lowell. Although I have not read the first two books of the series, Cain has supplied enough background detail in Evil at Heart to give her new readers a good grasp of previous events.

The plotting of this book, and I assume the earlier series entries as well, is highly inventive and entertaining. And plot is, after all, the main reason that most of us read these serial killer novels. Cain has created some great characters in Archie and Gretchen, as well as some very strong supportive players such as Susan Ward, a newspaper… Read more