The Killing Hour Review

Not again.. A sassy rookie FBI agent who knows better than everyone? Not what I picked up to read.. That’s what I thought through the first chapter. It reminded me of Quantico (The Priyanka Chopra starring TV series on ABC). The Killing Hour review would not have made it to Writersbrew.

However, a few chapters later things got decidedly better (or rather worse.. which is a great thing for a serial killer novel). At one point a live viper jumped out of a dead person’s mouth! Yuck and awesome..

There is a crazy guy out there who kills on hot days.The first victim is found fast enough. Along with the dead body are far-fetched clues that lead to the location of the 2nd victim, who has some chance of survival if you manage to reach her on time. You need a linguist, geologist, botanist and whole lot of other ‘ologists’ to decipher these vague clues.

That’s the eco-killer’s sadistic game.. 3 years ago he killed girls in pairs, but now stakes are even higher.

Kimberly Quincy, the heroine, is an FBI agent in training. She has a tragic past. Kimberly trusted a man who killed her mother and sister. So, now Kimberly drives her body to its limits of endurance, suffers from insomnia and refuses to trust anyone. Pretty standard stuff for a heroine with shadows in her past.

Her father is a revered ex-agent, who comes in to help out with the chase. There are girls to save and a psychotic serial killer to catch, but there is enough time for some father-daughter bonding.

The hero is Mac. And am a little confused if he was a Marine or from the Police department. There was quite a bit of political power struggle between the different government agencies on who had jurisdiction over the murder cases, but for most parts of the story it only detracted from the chase rather than added any excitement to it.

Mac brought in a good balance of sense and swagger into the picture. His relationship with Kimberly has a few days to play out but was intense in a good way. The author, Lisa Gardner, made sure that Mac handles the distraught and high-strung heroine with a lovely tenderness that allows her space to breathe. She also added a scene under the stars for the lead pair, which is a tough thing to do when a murderer is running around killing unsuspecting young girls and leaving others to die in creepy isolated spots, just because the temperatures are soaring.

A steady pace, some humour and some intelligence through the story with some chilling and horrifying moments makes this a fun read. It’s solid team effort and not a Jack Baur saves the day (Go watch 24 if you haven’t) solution to all problems, which leaves a satisfying feel.

So, if not a must buy The Killing Hour is a good book to at least rent and curl up to this summer.

Interested in more FBI chases. How about The Lost Key by Catherine Coulter?