John Lutz' The Night Spider reviewed by jseger9000

Sorry I've posted so often lately. I've been a reading fool. It would probably help if I read something weightier than I have been...

Up this time is The Night Spider. John Lutz put out a sort of series of books a few years back. Each book featured similar themes of a retired cop being called back, a serial killer, New York and the word 'Night' in the title.
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I've often glanced at those John Lutz paperbacks, with their similar names and attractively creepy cover designs. I did a little research and The Night Spider seemed to be the best reviewed of them, so I gave it a shot.

There's a killer loose in New York. His victims are all single women, living in upper floor apartments, cocooned in their bedclothes. The apartments are accessed via their windows, meaning the killer is scaling the sides of the buildings like a spider. Thomas Horn, a former detective is called out of retirement to hunt down the killer (which seems to be a theme in all of these Lutz Night books).

The book is an exciting and well paced thriller. It moves along smoothly, all of the scenes are interesting and things never drag. The scenes involving the killer are creepy, yet avoid being too lurid and each of the cops has enough personality to make them interesting to follow. Lutz does a decent job of evoking New York. The ambiance wasn't as strong as I like, but as you read the book, you will not confuse the setting for any other city.

But as enjoyable as it was, it was missing that certain something 'extra' that would have put it over the top and made it truly memorable. The book did everything right (though near the end the plot twists became ludicrous), but there was nothing about it that was especially spectacular. For sure I enjoyed the book as a simple pot boiler and I will read more of his stuff. But if The Night Spider is among his better work, I can see that he won't be top tier.

English is not my native langue, so you'll have to excuse me for not commenting on spelling, grammar and flow of sentences. The only pointer I can give you there is that (which seems to be a theme in all of these Lutz Night books). at the end of your summary of the plot seems a bit weird (for lack of a better word).

I'd suggest making this bit of your introduction into your actual review:

John Lutz put out a sort of series of books a few years back. Each book featured similar themes of a retired cop being called back, a serial killer, New York and the word 'Night' in the title.

What I would like to know is if you thought the calling out of retirement of Thomas Horn was believable, but that's probably more my curiosity than necessary. Otherwise, I really liked your review.

#3 - I was revising my review, working in your suggestions and I realized you pointed out one of the things in the book that most bugged me.

I thought my review was a little too vague. Reading through it, it seemed like I should have liked the book more than I did.

Your What I would like to know is if you thought the calling out of retirement of Thomas Horn was believable was the key.

I think my review reads much better now. Thanks!

How does it read now? I have the word 'similar' twice in the first paragraph, I like the use of each, but one needs to be replace. I just can't think of a replacement.
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I've often glanced at those John Lutz 'Night' paperbacks, with their similar names and attractively creepy cover designs. Each book features similar themes of a retired cop being called back, a serial killer, New York and the word 'Night' in the title. I did a little research and The Night Spider seemed to be the best reviewed of them, so I gave it a shot.

There's a killer loose in New York. His victims are all single women, living in upper floor apartments, cocooned in their bedclothes. The apartments are accessed via their windows, meaning the killer is scaling the sides of the buildings like a spider. Thomas Horn, a former detective is called out of retirement to hunt down the killer.

I wasn't exactly clear why Horn had to be called out of retirement for this case. I got the feeling it was mainly done to give Lutz an excuse to bypass all the police procedural stuff. In fact, I think that was my major problem with the book. It felt like Horn and his two assistants were an island of detection. Even as the press turned up the heat on the cops, we were never shown that there was anybody besides Horn, Ramboquette and Bickerstaff working the case, meeting in a diner.

Still, the book is an exciting and well paced thriller. It moves along smoothly, all of the scenes are interesting and things never drag. The scenes involving the killer are suitably creepy, yet avoid being too lurid and each of the cops has enough personality to make them interesting to follow. Lutz does a decent job of evoking New York. The ambiance wasn't as strong as I like, but as you read the book, you will not confuse the setting for any other city.

But as enjoyable as it was, it was missing that certain something 'extra' that would have put it over the top and made it truly memorable. The book did everything right (though near the end the plot twists became ludicrous), but there was nothing about it that was especially spectacular. For sure I enjoyed the book as a simple pot boiler and I will read more of his stuff. But if The Night Spider is among his better work, I can see that he won't be top tier.

Nothing jumps out at me, but a possible suggestion for the first 'similar' could be 'uniform'

Thanks for the suggestion. 'Uniform' sounds too rigid. I know this is cheesy, but I went to thesaurus.com and searched. Words I liked are: comparable or related, but will listen to other suggestions. And which 'similar' should be replaced?

(BTW: Uniform was in the list of synonyms)

My immediate thought was to replace the second 'similar' with comparable.

I like the additions to the review and I think your criticism of the plot-devises used added depth to the review.