Trite and Predictable
348188
Trite and predictable. I'd get back the money I wasted on this one if I could. Interesting setting but that's as far as it goes.
4809387
In Brad Thor's latest book entitled Athena Project, he attempts to add some character analysis to a highly skilled team of women introduced in his last novel.  Unfortunately the mindless banter between these four women had me skipping entire paragraphs in order to search for some meaningful prose.  This was an extremely predictable story with four - at best - unlikeable characters.  The only interesting storyline with some FBI agents (one of them a double agent) received very little print.  The one saving grace is that the book was short and read quickly.

I can only hope that Mr. Thor will let these women die a quick death in his next novel and get back to his politically motivated, action-packed and tough talking novels that I am used to from him.  Two stars is all I could scrounge up for this novel.  Happy reading!
1297331
This novel's plot was predictable and boring. The typos were many and it seems like nobody proofread it. I would suggest passing this one over.
143286
Boring And trite. . SO bad didn't finish it and threw it Way
4436514
Dull and trite. Trying perhaps to be sexy in the style of Sex and the City, but it misses in a pretty big way. I did not think that the writer used a ghost writer for her first book, but now I'm wondering how both of her books could have come from the same person. The first book is intelligent and sensitive. Unfortunately this one is poorly written with a tired storyline and unimaginative characters. I wanted to like it but instead I'm astonished that the writer allowed this to be released.
2759492
Trite and dreary plot.  Bad puntuation. 'Nuff said,
453272
Not at all what I expected, it was trite and full of clichs. I had to skip a looot of pages just to get to the ending.
4427631
I found the story and the characters to be very trite.  I couldn't be bothered reading much beyond the second set of lovely breasts.  Characterization of the women involved trite sexual generalizations (both slender, both had well shaped breasts, blah blah blah. Little lesbian action recalled from when one character was young that did nothing to enrich character development or the plot). The men were saved from the sexual details but were no more interesting.  It had all the thrill and challenge of a third rate bodice ripper.

I donated the book to the local library.

The only reason there is a single star is that Amazon would not allow me to leave the stars blank.
2945903
I don't like posting a negative review and perhaps this book might appeal to other people. I couldn't get past the first few pages. It seems very predictable and trite. I read LOTS of books and can read almost anything, even the back of cereal boxes, but I couldn't continue this. However, I know that the author took a lot of time to write it and has written more on this and it might appeal to other people. Just not me.
3371855
Boring, boring, boring.  Trite, too many chapters, not enough character development, a predictable ending.  I stuck with it because I like to finish what I start, but, oh, I was tempted to toss it many times.
2648631
I purchased the Kindle edition for $1, a poor value.  This book is full of cliche and the plot is very predictable.  I immediately guessed who the killer was, and it seemed so obvious that I wondered if I would be surprised in the end.  I wasn't.  The paragraphs about the attraction between the main characters were so tedious that I found myself skimming over them.  The big reveal about the evil politician husband was ho hum, and none of the characters seemed to have any dimension -- just cardboard cutouts being moved through a weak storyline.

I am amazed by all the five star reviews.  I have to wonder if those readers have ever read anything of quality.  Different strokes, I guess.
3206336
That says it all. Very trite character description. Such a predictable little story. I could have dreamed this one up and I can't write.
743770
Our star is now married, drives a sports' Mercedes (which her well-off husband replaced her smashed Mini with - because "she did not think she could drive a new Mini" after what happened with the old one! What a grand excuse!), and thinks about babies. Of course. Very predictable.
Inconsistencies on every page. Starting with the digest of previous books where the Forgotten Cottage mentioned action originates from events in 1732 (but in the book 3 it was 1782, 50 years later). Henry Smith is being labeled "the worst serial killer in Britain" - but he actually killed only 2 women, plus his mother dear, so I doubt it would put him into that category. Again. grammar is bad, punctuation is worse, and usage of "scientific" words is laughable (for instance, she calls exposure to cold hyperthermia which actually supposed to be HYPOthermia). The author's vocabulary is very limited. There are a handful of common expressions she keeps using on every page until one wants to throw up. All her characters apparently suffer some stomach disorders seeing how often their stomachs lurch, grant, churn or grumble. I swear, in 50 years of daily reading, thousands and thousands books all together  have not had as many instances of those stomach sounds mentioned as this series have. Another expression - "wiped her eye with her sleeve" is also used quite frequently - they all do it in the moments of feeling emotional. I actually NEVER IN MY LIFE have seen a person doing it. I don't think they do it anymore, not since Dickens.
Many reviewers complained about profanity, and although it does not bother me as much as bad grammar I think those words used because the author cannot come up with a proper language to express emotions.
The central group of characters - the Keystone Kops - constantly gather together to "discuss plan of action", but all they do is eat, drink and chew goo of totally useless statements such as "We need to catch him as soon as possible". Really, and how do you propose to do it? No idea on that! Then they go out to canvas a hundred of caravan sites in the area but after visiting one decide it's time to go back and have a lunch. I got it - it is a comedy! Stupidity of their actions is sometimes too irritating to remain amusing. A scene where Annie learns the name of the girl she thought looked familiar and it turned to be one of their targets: instead of keeping calm and see if they could lure that target into the hunt, then hunt the hunter, they start running up and down the street like blind mice screaming "they are watching, they are close" - absolutely hilarious. And the crown jewel is the ending where the whole bunch of them are playing high profile operation and half end up bloodied while the supernatural creature from the sewers takes care of poor serial killer.
This author makes UK police look like a bunch of morons, and this is shame.
The author insists on mixing supernatural element into the serial killer's story. This time it's not a ghost but a "real monster", the sort from under the bed, who stays dorrmant for decades in a sewer, then comes out to eat one or two unfortunate people.  sure the super woman Annie will kill the monster in some future books - seeing how she already managed to send evil spirits back to hell, just by sprinkling holy water or saying a prayer,  although many tried the same, unsuccessfully, before her.
2283920
Ugh.  That's my feeling at the end of the book.  Never a good sign, I was skimming the last pages so I could see that I had indeed correctly predicted the "terrifying" last sequence of events.

I can understand why the author writes under a pseudonym--this stuff is two dimensional; and I have to disagree with some of the other reviewers here, the characters are so trite!  I really believe someone gave David Cray an outline of the usual police procedural/serial killer story.

The brash-yet-secretly-sensitive woman detective is boss over the men.  She is attractive and quite young for her elevated position in the police heirarchy.  She is rearing a top-notch child even though she's never home and living in a dangerous city.

The melancholy, attractive, forty-something man who "breaks the rules" and is permitted into the aforementioned woman's realm.  He dedicates his life to righting the wrongs of a mysterious past...blah blah blah.

So predictable is the serial killer's wanting to kidnap the detective's husband, wife, child, etc. at the end of the novel.  This was so boring!  There are so many authors who breathe excitement and depth into their plots and characters!  Don't settle for this tripe!  This would bore you even on a short airline flight!

This book would be interesting and gripping to someone who reads a book a year--usually when she or he is unable to watch television.  If you read more than that, you're bound to recognize just how similar the plot devices and characters are to many other medium-grade books being written!  Unflatteringly, we North Americans have to read UK authors to see some quality writing and psychological suspense.  Word to the wise--skip this one.
1545257
"Beach" reading (though I don't live near a beach). Trite and predictable - still, I read  to the last page. What does that say!
4143336
Trite, predictable and exasperating melodramatic.
I found myself impatiently flipping through the last chapters just to be done with it.
2029142
I found the book silly and predictable. The writing is basic and the plot contrived. It took all my patience to finish the book. If it had been longer, I probably wouldn't have made it. There are far too many good mysteries to read than to waste time on just plain awful.