Tim Hoy

This was an unusual one and I'm a bit torn how to rate it.
Tessa is a Detective Inspector with the police force in London working on a string of murders where women have been shot at close range. The only thing connecting the victims: they're young and pretty. With little to go on, the police are pretty much in the dark.
Alec is a wealthy American-born artist with a lot of baggage from his past who is now living in London. Tessa and Alec literally bump into each other one evening. Immediately, there's a connection there. They start talking and Alec invites Tessa to the opening of his exhibition. It's this exhibition that convinces Tessa to take Alec into custody there and then during the launch party. He is going to stand trial for the murders of the women. But could he really be a serial killer? Despite the impossible situation, Tessa and Alec form a close relationship, which the reader then gets to follow over several years.
Told in alternating chapters by Tessa and Alec, the style was unusual. The chapters are presented in diary-type entries, occasionally addressing the reader. I found the writing quite clinical. It was almost like reading a report. As a result, I felt a bit detached. Based on its premise of "what happens when a detective falls in love with a homicide suspect?", this could (should?) have elicited a lot of emotions and had the potential for some serious chills, but that didn't happen. However, I still really enjoyed it. In fact, for the first half of this, I was totally hooked and thought this was going to turn into a 5-star read. Getting to know Tessa and the murder case she was working, her initial meeting with Alec and then the trial, it was all fascinating to follow.
Right at the 50% mark, however, it began to run out of steam and in the end, I had a slightly disappointing "that's-it?" reaction. The thing is I can't exactly pinpoint what it was that made the second half less gripping. One thing that would have improved the ending for me would have been a closing chapter from Alec.
So, with a really, really strong first half and a reasonably intriguing, but somewhat blankly padded second half, which I experienced almost as a Lifetime Movie (the entire large house on the cliffs and the sailboat scenario just didn't do it for me), I'm settling on 3.5 stars.
My thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley.… (más)