07-12-2011

Taboo by Casey Hill

Genre: Crime
Series: Reilly Steel #1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Find the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Buy the book: The Book Depository
Source: Bought

Forensic investigator Reilly Steel, Quantico-trained and California-born and bred, imagined Dublin to be a far cry from bustling San Francisco, a sleepy backwater where she can lay past ghosts to rest and start anew. She's arrived in Ireland to drag the Irish crime lab into the 21st century, plus keep tabs on her Irish-born father who's increasingly seeking solace in the bottle after a past family tragedy.

But a brutal serial killer soon puts paid to that. When a young man and woman are found dead in an apartment, the gunshot wounds on their naked bodies suggest a suicide pact. But Reilly's instincts are screaming that something's seriously amiss, and as more bodies are discovered, the team soon realises that a twisted murderer is at work, one who seeks to upset society's norms in the most sickening way imaginable...


Reilly Steel, born in Ireland, moves from California to Dublin to lead the Dublin forensics team to modernisch the lab. She is not really excepted there, only by the younger crowd walking the lab. And while trying to teach them something they have murders to investigate. Together with Detective Chris Delaney and his partner Kennedy they have to figure out the clues that were left by the killer. But they really have to do some puzzle work to try and figure this one out.

Where normally a crime novel is all about detective work, this book combines the detective work with the forensic work that comes with crime solving. I really liked this combination although I thought there was room for some more details on the forensic part of the story.
I liked these characters. Reilly is a strong woman who knows what she's doing. Due to events in her past she suffers from nightmares. And even when nobody wants to go along with her therories based on evidense she doesn't give up. I really liked Chris Delaney and Kennedy. Their interaction is great and they compliment eachother well. Chris warms up to Reilly fast while Kennedy takes a while to even consider her theories and her "touchy-feely" way of finding evidence.

The story itself has a great build up to the plot. Where the murders are gruesome, the writing misses that bit of detail to give them a real impact when you read it. But on the other hand I love it when I totally picture a crimescene and others don't so it's totally personal. On the other hand the writing does make sure you're on the edge of your seat and let you flip page after page to see what else they uncover.

My rating: 4/5

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