Montero gets hooked up with a different (read female) serial killer. It is literally a long wild ride. As she explains to the four year old who is dragged along for part of it, sort of like Mr. Toad's ride at Disney.

There is something wrong with a book that has you rooting for the bad guy (or in this case gal). Here, the killer is a much more interesting character than the regulars or even the victims. The reader gets the feeling that the child was added in as a character because even Buchanan was developing too much sympathy for the devil.

There is no question that Buchanan can write. Her skillful character development, particularly of characters new to readers saves this book from total disaster. Still, technically there are HUGE glitches. In the version I read one character's last name switches annoyingly from Moran to Mason and back. Have her editors (if not Buchanan) ever HEARD of find and replace?

There is a theme "Evil lives forever" that Buchanan does back flips to endorse. Her thesis that some people just have an "evil gene" is simplistic at best, morally bankrupt if carried to extreme. She claims she cannot explain the killer's actions but for this paradigm. A junior high school student could explain to Buchanan how the killer's formative years as described in the book may have contributed to her behavior.

It is a credit to Buchanan's writing that we can be annoyed by her thesis, irritated by poor editing and still enjoy the read. Would I recommend it to others? Despite all, probably so. But it is NOT Buchanan's best.

Keppie is finally captured in Barbados and, in a jailhouse confrontation back in Miami, reveals to Britt her final secret and ace in the hole, providing for a shocking but ambiguous ending. We may see Keppie Lee Hutton again.

This book is well plotted, quick paced, distressingly plausible and, while perhaps not one of Buchanan's best, is nonetheless highly entertaining and recommended.

This is my first encounter with Edna Buchanan's alter-ego, Britt Montero. Personally, I could never get past all the purchased (read: wigs) hair Buchanan wears for interviews and book tours, so I just didn't take her seriously enough to purchase her work.

The lady's obviously very bright, having won the Pulitzer, and she has the experience and talent to write about the underbelly of Miami, so why hide under all that obviously fake hair?

With that said....

I read the liner notes for this book and was intrigued that the serial killer was female and very, very good at what she does.

I disagree with Montero's decision that there is an "evil" gene. Mabye it was the sex at six years old that turned Keppie...or her mother's past....or the fact that she grew up unloved and unwanted...or maybe she saw what her mother did to those men...or mabye it was the taunt of the kids at school that first gave her the lust for blood.

I didn't have sympathy for Keppie, but I could certainly understand how she might be wired differently from the rest of the world.

I read the book in one sitting, and although I had some serious doubt about Britt's reluctance to free herself from the hostage situation, I liked the story and look forward to reading more about Britt's life as a reporter in a city that certainly contains a lot of dark and humid secrets yet to be told.

Enjoy!