Finished 8-6-12, rating 4/5, mystery/thriller, 448 pages, pub. 2012
Book 3 of the Dave Gurney series. (Book 1 – Think of a Number) (Book 2- Shut Your Eyes Tight)
Dave Gurney, highly decorated retired NYPD detective, is in a funk after his last encounter with a killer left him with both physical and mental scars. When the reporter who helped catapult Gurney to detective stardom asks him to help her daughter with a project he said yes and that’s how he got involved in a 10 year old serial killer case gone cold. The Good Shepherd killed 6 Mercedes drivers, all the same way, and then sent a manifesto to the police railing against greedy, moneyed folks. When Gurney challenges the FBI’s handling of the case he immediately butts heads with Agent Trout, an FBI guy who could do some damage to Gurney’s life.
I love all three of the Dave Gurney books. He is a complicated man who knows his strengths and weaknesses. He is a great detective, an average husband, and a not-so-wonderful dad. In the past two books Gurney’s relationship with his wife Madeleine added dimension to the man and in this one we get to see the dynamic between he and his son first-hand. I loved it. I hope we see more of his son in future books.
I was a lukewarm to the mystery at first, but it grew on me (much better than the cringe-inducing details of the second book). There was a large cast of characters and lots of overlapping storylines, but they all revolved around the Good Shepherd case and Kim’s interviewing the families for RAM-TV, kind of a cross between Fox News and TMZ. There was so much going on and I loved the fast pace of the book. I will say that I did figure it out somewhere past the halfway mark, well, I had two theories and one was correct 🙂 I wish there had been a little more wrapping up of some of the storylines at the end, but that in no way took away from my enjoyment. I love this series and highly recommend it.
I received this as part of the TLC Book Tour. Thanks for the book! Check out what everyone else had to say…
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