Let me get this out of the way first - I liked WEBCAM, even if I did find myself ultimately disappointed. It's a far from perfect read for me, but I don't feel like my time was completely wasted. Hence, the three-star rating. To explain why I was disappointed will take some doing, so here goes.

Jack Kilborn is JA Konrath's go-to pseudonym for horror books, and they're usually billed as "A Novel Of Terror." Such books have included Afraid, Trapped, Endurance, Haunted House, and (I think) a few others. For me, Afraid has stood at the top of these offerings and is the pinnacle of Kilborn's efforts. The sequence listed above also carries with it a certain staple that I expect in a Kilborn book - primarily intense, squirm-inducing violence that is graphically rendered, and a whole bucketfuls of spilled blood, guts, and gore. The villains are bat-shit crazy psychotics, occasionally of the inbred variety, and the good guys are normal people caught up in unexpected horrors that are way, way, way over their heads.

In WEBCAM, a nutjob is killing webcam models. Given the endless stream of horror that pretty much is the Internet these days, this seems like perfect fodder for some Kilborn scares. Unfortunately, much of what I dug in previous Kilborn books are sorely lacking here. I didn't find myself squirming uncomfortably as I did back in the days when Afraid and Trapped hit my Kindle, and it seems like more than a little stretch of the imagination to call this a Novel Of Terror since there's not actually much real terror in it. At least not for my tastes.

What WEBCAM is, though, is a fairly standard but mostly well-delivered serial killer police procedural that feels more like a high-tech, watered-down retread of the movie Seven than a straight-up fright fest. Things run smoothly for the most part, although I found the relationship between lead character Detective Tom Mankowski and his visiting long-distance girlfriend grew weary rather quickly. And the finale is more concerned with shoehorning in Konrath's long-running series staple, Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, and adding in a few unnecessary layers to the story's end all in the name of developing a cross-over with a few other newly released Konrath titles. The climax is rushed to an abrupt and unsatisfying finish, as if the author grew bored with the material or was running up against a hard, self-imposed deadline.

On the bright side, WEBCAM is certainly a decent time-killer, and it does have a few cat-and-mouse thrills in it, along with a few chuckles here and there. And that cover design is absolutely brilliant!

I love Jack Kilborn's books. The Afraid books are some of my all time favorites. So that is the kind of story I was expecting from this book. I haven't read any of the Jack Daniels or other of the authors mystery books, but they are on my list of to-read. Though after this one I might reconsider as I am not sure I like the way he writes the character interactions and conversations.

Webcam is the story of a serial killer who is stalking and killing webcam girls named Kendall. He thinks he is saving their souls or something. Making them pay for their sins. And I wish we could have had more of the killer. More of what he did and what made him him. That was why I picked up this book to read for Halloween. I wanted a scary, horrifying read and I got glimpses of the book I wanted. The killer himself, the descriptions of the murder scenes and everything was shudder inducing. I cannot imagine what those girls went through. Seriously this author can make up some truly horrifying situatuins. And I love it.

But most of the book felt like it was about the detective, Tom, and how he is in love with his long distance girlfriend who is visiting. How he shouldn't be working, but he has to. How she gets upset that he leaves to do his job while she is there. How he wants to marry her, but they have an agreement that neither will ask the other to give up their jobs or move to be with the other. Their whole storyline? Well I will say this - maybe romance is not the authors strong suit. It didn't feel real. I never got any emotions between the two of them. I was told they were in love. I was told she would get upset or he would feel bad, but I didn't see it. I didn't feel it. I didn't care about them at all. So it wasn't that great. If I don't care what happens to your main characters then if something bad happens it is no big deal.

You also have the story of one of the Kendall's the killer is stalking. His next victim. I liked those parts more than the detective's part. I liked that she is not actually who the killer goes for. She is not his normal victim. She thinks she might be crazy and making it all up. That was fun and I could have done with a bit more of it. The stalking was pretty creepy.

Now as I said most of the book is focused on Tom and his investigation and how it affected his love life. The writing in those parts was not very good for me. It was stilted and just not what I expected from this author. I was still enjoying it well enough, but then I realized I only had a few minutes left in the book and a situation that had yet to be resolved and the whole ending felt very rushed. Like suddenly everything worked out tada! It didn't help with the meh feeling of the story when it felt like it wasn't fully flushed out at the end. Oh well. I have the other Afraid books to re-read when I want my horrifying situation fix.

This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland

Konrath makes your heart pound and the creepy factor that climbs up your spine isn't simply because of the plot. His books make you wonder...is this possible? And what's really frightening is the answer is yes.

The story in WebCam is just that: possible. While it wasn't as gruesome as some of his other tales, I still found the tension high and the writing incredible. He builds fantastic characters though I dislike that I've ended up reading the books out of sequence because sometimes I know the outcome of other books before I can get time to read them. The series intertwine a bit, so the "will this character survive or not" aspect of some books is not as strong. I usually want the character to survive so it's ok with me overall. And I keep reading so that's the tell-all.

Another great read by Kilborn. I have read every book in this collective and truly can't wait for the upcoming ones.

Webcam had a couple of twists that I wasn't ready for and as the others, it kept you tuned in. My only complaint is the final "showdown scene" seemed a little anticlimactic. I'm nitpicking, I loved it, just wanted more.

Overall, it's a great read. A few others in the collective I found more entertaining, but this was money well spent.

Normally I can't put down any book written by Kilborn or Konrath but this book was amongst the few exceptions. While it had a decent storyline and characters I found the usual edge of your seat feeling I so enjoy normally from these books just wasn't there. It was a decent read but not one I'd ear mark to read again if I wanted an excellent thrill worth revisiting.

Love this author and loved this book. I have read over 40 of this talented author's books and will keep on reading them as he keeps on writing them.