I have to admit that I had a really hard time getting into this book. The premise seemed promising - woman married to a police officer; woman finds out husband is serial killer; woman hunted by husband until eventual showdown. In theory, this is what took place in the book, however, most of the book was about Tess (the wife) living with a mercenary, J.T., who unwillingly is dragged into training her to fight and their eventual romance. Because romance would CLEARLY be the first thing on the mind of a woman on the run from her psychopathic husband....but I digress...

Sadly, I really loathed J.T., which is why I think I had such a hard time with the book. He was an unlikeable character in my opinion and I had a hard time relating to him or even really caring what happened to him in the first place. J.T. also has a side plot with his FBI agent sister, Marion. I thought this was a bit distracting to the main plot of Jim hunting down Tess.

Spoiler

I also found it a tad unbelievable that all these characters had been abused in their past.

I liked Tess for the most part, other than the fact that she fell for J.T. (for reasons I mentioned above).

Jim was written perfectly - definitely one of the creepiest (and more violent) serial killers I have read about. He was what really kept me reading as I tried to guess his next move or what his next disguise would be. I honestly would have given this a 2 star rating except for how well Jim was written, as well as the last 100 pages. The climax of the book really kept me engaged and I didn't expect one of the twists that Gardner threw at the reader. If it wasn't for this section, it would have just been an awkward love story between J.T. and Tess in my opinion!

I really liked the Quincy character, which is a plus, as I discovered this was actually the first in a series about him - oddly enough, he only has about 50 pgs of plot in this book! I think it may have been more enjoyable to focus on him rather than J.T. I will definitely consider picking up the next book in the series as I did enjoy Gardner's style, I just sadly couldn't grow to care for the main characters in this one!

I liked this book more than I thought I would! The characters were well developed, and just when you think you've figured out what's going on, in comes a twist!

The first book of Lisa Gardner's shows a lot of potential for the great works she has since put forward. This, however, is not one of them. Unrealistic characters and situations, and (except for Quincy) no real likable protagonists. There's a spark there, but it doesn't take off in this novel.

Pretty well written, somewhat predictable, but enough surprises to keep it interesting. Read very much like a Tami Hoag novel (think Lucky's Lady, etc).

I've read some of Gardner's later books and thank goodness she's improved from this one. The characters were unlikeable and unbelievable. A woman who's been brutally abused by her husband for years seeks out a crass mercenary to train her and then has an affair with him? Doubtful. A man on the top ten most wanted list disguises himself as a cop and attends a briefing about how to catch him without being caught? Give me a break. The cherry on this rotten cake was the predictable ending.