LoveMurder by Saul Black Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

When she is called to the murder scene, the last thing San Francisco Homicide detective Valerie Hart is expecting is for Katherine Glass to walk back into her life. Six years earlier, revulsion and fascination had gripped the nation in equal measure, as beautiful, intelligent, charming and utterly evil Katherine Glass had been convicted on six counts of Murder One. But the freshly-mutilated corpse in the ground-floor apartment bears all the hallmarks of Katherine s victims. And then there s the note, with its chilling implications. Addressed to Valerie.

To stop the slaughter, Valerie has no choice. She must ask Katherine Glass to help her decipher the killer s twisted message. But that means re-entering the pitch-black labyrinth that is Katherine s mind, and this time Valerie isn't so sure which one of them will survive.

It was just earlier this month I reviewed Saul Black's debut, The Killing Lessons. While it wasn't my favorite mystery- there was a little too much going on and it had a dragging problem- it was still a good, solid debut thriller that showed a ton of promise. I liked Black's writing, and the ideas he came up with. 

And this novel is much tighter than his first. It was more focused by far- the only thing going on was the central case, there wasn't a million other little threads to follow up on. I mean, not everything was fixed- sex was still a big part of the book, but I'm starting to think this is something that's just going to become a part of reading Saul Black's books. The vibe he's clearly going for is dark and twisted and sexy, and I'm cool with that. Especially when this book is even more fucked up than the first.

The characters came across as a lot stronger, too. Valerie is still the smart, capable detective, but without the extra melodrama of being both an alcoholic and lovesick for her ex. Nick proved a welcome addition to the plot, and his banter-heavy dialogue ended up being my favorite. I also think Will especially shined in this novel, and I ended up not hating most of the side characters, which is amazing for me. 

The villains were interesting, although while I wanted to like Katherine Glass- and she was the kind of Elizabeth Bathory evil that I like- she grated on me after a while. I wished she could have a scene in which there was no unnecessary sexual tension between her and Valerie, or in which people would stop mentioning her beauty because it got old and tiring fast. But I suppose it's meant to enhance the dark and sexy aspects of the story, so that's a purpose. From what I understand, this guy writes werewolf novels under his real name (I didn't discover this until I Goodreadsed the author; he refreshingly doesn't make any mention of it- but then again, if I wrote werewolf novels I'd want to keep that hidden, too), so that might explain the preoccupation with sex. It's funny, though, his writing reminds me almost of Tana French's, but reading his books reminds me of how refreshingly little sex there is in hers. I'm not against sex in books, but it's such a big part of many books, especially thrillers, it's nice that a popular author hasn't fallen back on that trope.

I would say this book's biggest flaw is that it was surprisingly reluctant to kill people off. I think the subject demanded a higher body count than what was actually given to us, and I also think that Black was skating on thin ice with me with two of the people that he had the Man in the Mask capture. I mean, did anyone actually think those two characters would be killed off? I mean, one, fine sure whatever, but two in one book? That does nothing but waste time. One of them should have been killed off or, heck, maybe that particular subplot just shouldn't have been in the book at all, in favor of one that could have actually been killed. In the end, it felt like shock value, and I despise shock value. 

So those are my thoughts on LoveMurder, a title my spellcheck hates. It was good, and a strangely addictive little book that is sure to keep you interested, provided you don't hate a little shock value or unnecessary sex. And hey, if you do love that shit, well, all the more power to you.

8-8.5 out of 10