Ashes to Ashes (Hardcover)

Enter former agent Kate Conlan (main character). She left the FBI several years and we find Kate five years into a new life and career as a victim and criminal witness advocate in Minneapolis. Kate's life, albeit rather lonely, is fairly simple revolves around her work. When she is told that she's been chosen to work with a troubled teenage murder witness, she knows her life is about to become much, much more complicated.

The Rub: The third victims billionaire father goes far above the local authorities...making things even more complicated as the best FBI profiler, John Quinn, is brought in on the case. Unfortunately for Kate, his appearance is less than desirable and far from welcome. The distraught billionaire father is given FAR too much special treatment and consideration...the pool of political hopefuls and *ss kissing sycophants trying to make it up the career ladder seems unusually large even for a city as large as Minneapolis.

Quinn, Kovak (tough cop, played up to the hilt...a truly enjoyable character) and his "team," Kate, Rob (her boss) and a bevy or "supporting characters"...take us on a very exciting and very unnerving journey to find the identity of "The Cremator."

I have to tell you this is my first Tami Hoag novel, and I have to admit, her talent is quite extraordinary!! Mrs. Hoag is able to craft an intensely suspenseful story that kept me turning pages all day long and I had a VERY hard time calling it a night...I practically fell asleep sitting up reading it. I felt an almost uncontrollable NEED to know what would happen next...every twist and every turn of this wonderful thriller brought me to the edge of my seat (practically biting my nails)...and EVERY TIME I thought I had it figured out, she'd thrown in another twist...making me rethink everything all over again!!

I cannot really fault this book for what it is -- an excellent police procedural...however, where this killer is concerned...bleck...his background and motivation are never sufficiently developed or explained. The romance was strictly Harlequin stuff....very shallow and very predictable...I think we could have done without the Kate/John love scenes here...!! I enjoyed this book the same way I enjoy the TV series CSI...one of the things I DID NOT like is that a part of me almost felt compelled to know more about what motivates the killer...and in the end I was NOT satisfied with what the author had to offer up in this area...what she gives is simply too graphic and overly "typical" of this type of book (i.e. sexually promiscuous mother...abuse...blah, blah, blah...)...there was nothing that made me really understand HOW he wound up this way or why...this was disappointing!

Also annoying is the length to which the author allows the father of the third victim to evade police and FBI questioning...I don't know that I believe this would be the case "in real life"...or at least I'd like to think it wouldn't be...the sheer number of politically motivated, upwardly mobile police bureaucrats is a bit much, methinks she beat that dead horse a bit too long...it was mildly annoying at best.

I also would like to mention that some scenes are extremely graphic, and quite disturbing. Most notable in this area are the autopsy scenes and those written from the killer's point of view are especially chilling. For me, I was able to read it no problem...I'm usually pretty good at not being creeped out by even some of the most disturbing events behind described in the fiction I read...I did find the brief bit of masturbation right at the beginning of the novel (in the first chapter or two) a bit unsettling...we get that this is the act of a depraved, very disturbed individual...a man setting a decapitated body on fire and the descriptions of this arousal were sufficient...the masturbation was extraneous in my opinion.

So why not settle in with a blanket, a nice beverage and enjoy this enthralling little number...oh, yea...and make sure to lock those doors and draw those shades! All in all, a diverting read for a weekend despite my own annoyances!! Where I have found some of the books I've read lately lacking...Ashes to Ashes has PLENTY of meat --sufficiently suspenseful, this novel will draw you into the world of tracking a serial killer, exposing the clashes between law enforcement, victims and politicians, with humor and good overall energy!!

This book is well above the "B" movie standard I hold most fiction to these days...but it does fall just short of "blockbuster" status for me...it's richly detailed and full of twists, turns with mostly interesting characters and story lines...but in the end...there were a few too many "annoyances" to make it shooting star caliber for me!! I was quite satisfied when I was done...the story ties up nicely...but I felt let down in a few small ways that I cannot overlook...this could be owing to the largely "formulamatic" writing the author employs...however, you will NOT be disappointed if you read this...I give it an "A-" for content and readability with a warning for extremely graphic violence and language!!

I probably won't go back and read any of her previous work...but I am going to go out of my way to read "Dust to Dust" the next in this series...as I truly loved the Kovak character and think he is aptly pared with Liska...I'm looking forward to it...and the reviews continue...he, he!

;-)AG