Second in the DS Stella Mooney mystery series set in modern-day London, Mooney has her work cut out for her with what turns into a serial murder case. The circumstances are bizarre and cause Stella to bring Dr. Anne Beaumont onto the case to create a profile. Poor Anne. Stella is, as usual, obsessed with the case and doesn’t consider night from day and badgers Dr. Beaumont at all hours. Nor does Anne know when Stella will be discussing her own personal issues or the case’s.

Things are also heating up between Stella and Delaney while George gets a nasty revelation leading to a trip around Cape Horn. Additional subplots include background on how a serial murderer is created (a positive reason for instituting a program requiring that parents be licensed to have children!); Dogboy with his pack; Delaney’s investigation into a previous suspect’s beating at the hands of the police; and, Stella’s evolving dreams.

It’s easy to be pulled into Stella’s life, both at the station and at home, as Lawrence writes with a passion that clearly creates the surroundings in which she operates. You can feel her terror when she is betrayed in the bull-ring at Harefield. The stench and heaviness of the cigarette smoke at the station mixed in with the Kit-Kats and crisps which both calms and fuels her fellow coppers. Her confusion as to what is happening in her personal life.

Lord, I can't wait to see what happens next in Cold Kill.

Ok. I picked this book up at a library sale because the cover looked interesting and it was, like, 2 bucks. That was over 2 years ago. It sat in boxes and on my bookcase forever while I read other books in which I was more interested. I finally decided to give it a go, feeling like it had sat neglected long enough.

Well... it started out rough and I began to wonder if maybe I should have just left it on the shelf. I think I just had to adjust to the author's writing style and his tendency to talk about traffic in London all. the. time. I had to check a number of times to make sure I was, in fact, reading a murder mystery and not a reference book about traffic patterns in London. We get it. It's congested. Stop mentioning it.

When it got into the meat of the story, though, it became for more interesting and engaging. I'm going to admit up front that I watch a TON of ID Channel (more than a normal, healthy adult should, really), so this book was really right up my alley. Serial killers? The inner workings of the police department? Yes, please! Side story about (spoiler alert?) the main character super cheating on her main squeeze of, like, six years with some other dude? Less intriguing, but whatevs. I feel like I probably would have cared more about that storyline if I had read the previous Stella Mooney book, but as I had no idea that existed (random library sale buy, remember?), it just kind of fell flat for me.

And then. Then we arrive at the end. I went in not really caring for this book, got sucked into the drama.... and then it totally crapped out on me. I became suspicious that I wasn't going to be too thrilled with the ending when I realized I had, maybe, three pages left, and nothing had been resolved. Oh, that suspicion was soooo right. The end felt like the author had run out of steam and just finished it as quickly, conveniently, and ridiculously as possible. Such a freakin' cop-out.

...No pun intended.

So, overall, I liked the book, but I left it feeling dissatisfied.

Ok. I picked this book up at a library sale because the cover looked interesting and it was, like, 2 bucks. That was over 2 years ago. It sat in boxes and on my bookcase forever while I read other books in which I was more interested. I finally decided to give it a go, feeling like it had sat neglected long enough.

Well... it started out rough and I began to wonder if maybe I should have just left it on the shelf. I think I just had to adjust to the author's writing style and his tendency to talk about traffic in London all. the. time. I had to check a number of times to make sure I was, in fact, reading a murder mystery and not a reference book about traffic patterns in London. We get it. It's congested. Stop mentioning it.

When it got into the meat of the story, though, it became for more interesting and engaging. I'm going to admit up front that I watch a TON of ID Channel (more than a normal, healthy adult should, really), so this book was really right up my alley. Serial killers? The inner workings of the police department? Yes, please! Side story about (spoiler alert?) the main character super cheating on her main squeeze of, like, six years with some other dude? Less intriguing, but whatevs. I feel like I probably would have cared more about that storyline if I had read the previous Stella Mooney book, but as I had no idea that existed (random library sale buy, remember?), it just kind of fell flat for me.

And then. Then we arrive at the end. I went in not really caring for this book, got sucked into the drama.... and then it totally crapped out on me. I became suspicious that I wasn't going to be too thrilled with the ending when I realized I had, maybe, three pages left, and nothing had been resolved. Oh, that suspicion was soooo right. The end felt like the author had run out of steam and just finished it as quickly, conveniently, and ridiculously as possible. Such a freakin' cop-out.

...No pun intended.

So, overall, I liked the book, but I left it feeling dissatisfied.