4,5* ( )

Veramente originale e avvicente. Un thriller nel quale si fa il tifo per l'assassina. ( )

Oy. Well, what can I say. Every so often I come across a book that just doesn't do it for me at all. Here we have a revenge thriller with psychopath mortician/loving mommy in the leading role, and I just flat out didn't care for it.

First of all, I figured out the BIG reveal so early into the story that it was just a matter of waiting for the end to prove myself right. tick tick tick yawn. Not that that hasn't happened with me and crime novels more than a few times, but so early into the game just really wrecks things beyond repair, and nothing after that point made me even question my guess.

Second, this novel is so over-the-top violent that it was not at all a pleasure to read.

Third, and what really gets me, is that everything happens and falls into place so unrealistically easily in this novel that there was no challenge whatsoever in the reading. I mean, if you're going to write a "thriller," it should pretty much thrill, and this one just didn't.

Oh well. Enough people here have enjoyed it and rated it highly, so it's probably once again just me being uber-picky. ( )

You never want to get on the wrong side of this woman! Blum is happily married with 2 young children. Her husband, Mark is a Policeman and she is a successful undertaker. Then, her world falls apart after her husband is killed in a hit and run. When she finds out that it wasn't an accident but murder, all hell breaks out. This is the first book in a trilogy, not sure what else she can that she didn't already do in this book. Not for the faint at heart! ( )

A dark and disturbing tale of vengeance and violence, Woman of the Dead is the first novel by Bernhard Aichner to feature Blum, mother, mortician and murderer.

When Blum's beloved husband is killed in a hit and run she is nearly destroyed until she learns that he was deliberately targeted. The photographer, the cook, the priest, the huntsman, and the clown - these are the men responsible, and Blum is going to make them pay.

Woman Of the Dead has one of the most memorable character introductions I've ever read. The story opens with a during a defining moment in Blum's life before leaping forward eight years to place us in the present. Blum is the devoted wife of Mark, a police detective, the doting mother of their two young daughters, and the owner of a successful funeral business. She is both hero and anti-hero in this story, grieving widow and ruthless killer.

There is raw and visceral emotion in The Woman of the Dead. The pain and numbness of Blum's grief and the horror of the abuse Danya experienced at the hands of the mysterious cabal. There is also grisly and often explicit violence, this isn't a story for the squeamish.

The plot is quite straight forward, perhaps stretched a little thin at times. It's a fast paced story that builds suspense, though astute readers shouldn't have any problems guessing the identity of the last man standing.

Woman of the Dead is an unusual story, with a rather extraordinary protagonist. I'm curious to see how the series develops. ( )