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Badlands (Jessica Balzano & Kevin Byrne #4)
A teenage runaway’s body is found in the basement of a rancid tenement building in the desolate, dangerous North Philly district dubbed the Badlands. The inexplicable cause of death: drowning. Months later, this dormant homicide case stirs back to life. A confession to the bizarre murder sends Philadelphia police detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano rushing to make a...more
Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages
Published
August 25th 2009
by Ballantine Books
(first published August 14th 2008)
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An excellent police procedural involving sleight-of-hand magic and games. The setting is familiar to me, so that was fun. The killer is the son of a magician who lives in an old mansion where he maintains a passion for puzzles and murder. (All of the clues point to a puzzle maniac.) An expert in disguise, he preys on runaway girls whom he lures into the hidden passageways of the old house where he fails to understand why they don’t appreciate his ministrations before he kills (sacrifices, re...more
Badlands, by Richard Montanari, B-plus, narrated by Scott Brick, produced by Books on Tape, downloaded from audible.com.
This is the third in the Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano series. The plot has become formulaic-a young girl’s body is found staged in some obscene and bizarre way, and it’s clear a serial murderer is at work. I’m tired of serial murders in general, and in this book we get too much information about what the murderer is thinking at various times. Scott Brick does ...more
This is the third in the Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano series. The plot has become formulaic-a young girl’s body is found staged in some obscene and bizarre way, and it’s clear a serial murderer is at work. I’m tired of serial murders in general, and in this book we get too much information about what the murderer is thinking at various times. Scott Brick does ...more
I'm having a hard time deciding whether to give this book 3 or four stars. It had a great story line, a terrific buildup, but the climax was weak.
The story concerns two cops, Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne, who are struggling to solve a series of riddles posed by a serial killer who is murdering young runaway teenagers. We know the identity of the perpetrator from the beginning of the book, he is someone unknown to the cops, and we get quite a bit of his back story as the novel pr...more
The story concerns two cops, Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne, who are struggling to solve a series of riddles posed by a serial killer who is murdering young runaway teenagers. We know the identity of the perpetrator from the beginning of the book, he is someone unknown to the cops, and we get quite a bit of his back story as the novel pr...more
Man, I was really hoping for a good one here and I was left unsatisfied. Being that I live approximately 30 mins from the Badlands, I was really intrigued obviously from the title alone, and was hooked even further when I saw what the premise was. I certainly enjoy cop thrillers and this sounded like a good one, but after only reading the first few pages I knew I was just not there. I felt I barely knew the 2 main characters and just felt the book did not roll along nicely at all. It was one...more
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PROTAGONISTS: Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano
SETTING: Philadelphia
RATING: 4.0
One of the trends of the past several years has been a focus on the serial killer as the villain in crime fiction offerings. At first unique, the device has become overdone and frequently ineffective. It's almost the easy way out for an author to create a despicable character who does horrendous things and call that a mystery. As a result, I've become pretty turned off by the whole ser...more
SETTING: Philadelphia
RATING: 4.0
One of the trends of the past several years has been a focus on the serial killer as the villain in crime fiction offerings. At first unique, the device has become overdone and frequently ineffective. It's almost the easy way out for an author to create a despicable character who does horrendous things and call that a mystery. As a result, I've become pretty turned off by the whole ser...more
I LOVE this book!! Not many authors can totally stump me like this, and none of them have chilled me to the bone in many years... but this man did! I love everything about this series, and plan very soon to pick up the rest... and then sleep with the lights on!! And I grew up reading Koontz, King, Saul, and the like. :D
I am glad this one was my very first books of his, even though it's all out of order. I don't care, he's that good!
I am glad this one was my very first books of his, even though it's all out of order. I don't care, he's that good!
I think it is impossible for Richard Montanari to write a bad book. Badlands is another excellent book to add to his resume. It is a fantastic police procedural novel with cliffhanger suspense throughout. I have enjoyed his character development of Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne, they are two fictional cops worth reading about. The psychopath in this book is one of the best you'll ever encounter in fiction. Badlands is a superb read from a superb author. I can't wait for the next installment in...more
Richard Montanari is one of my favorite Philly writers. His main characters, Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, go after another crazed killer with a twisted murder fetish for runaway girls. One worries about Montanari's mind and how he thinks up these twisted charactars and plots, but they are a great read
I had never read a mystery by Richard Montanari before this novel. I thought it was great. A very gripping mystery about a serial killer and lots of action in the hunt for him. It has good elements of character development of both the villain and the police. Enjoyable read!
A quick read murder mystery thrilled set in Philadelphia. I enjoyed the numerous references to the city, and the Philadelphia Police Department. Johnny Dougherty was giving them out free at his PA Society party and had the author there to sign them.
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Got this one on sale and didn't realize until later that this is #4 in a series with these detectives although I don't think that was a problem for me...I may check out the others down the road.
Badlands was my first murder mystery other than Murder on the Orient Express. It was exciting, scary and a page turner. It was a quick read as well. Something fun to pick up on a lazy or rainy day.
Not as good as The Rosary Girls or The Skingods but Montanari tells a tale like no other. he captures your attention and drags you in to the story with great ease. A good read nontheless.
Great psychological thriller, I'd give it 5 stars, but I reserve that for my very faves. Listened to it on CD in my car.
Page-turner, Philadelphia venue. Although it dragged on a little too long, it had an interesting premise.
Will definately be reading more of this author. The book doesn't disappoint !
Good descriptions of the thinking of the boy and the serial killer. Mesmerizing.
Couldn't get into this book, which i was disssapointed about as i love richard montanari's other books
Fats read, great page turner, lots a good twists
decent novel, quite tense
Pretty fun read. A little predictable at the end, but the twists at the beginning are great fun!!!
Very unexpected plot twist at the end.
Loved this book
Well written - fast paced.
My first Montanari book and certainly not the last. I read this book in French and the translation was great. I started reading it slowly, a few pages at a time and it took a while to get into the story. But once I was in it, I could not stop reading! We follow Byrne and Balzano on a cold case that becomes not that cold and quite scary. A must read! I wish I knew the city of Philadelphia though... Like reading a Kathy Reichs book set in Montréal. Things get a lot more real.
This was a page turner! I will read more by him soon!
Le polar n'étant pas un genre que je suis énormément, je me suis laissé tenter par ce roman sur l'avis d'une critique. Et bien, je suis assez déçu. Rarement l'histoire m'a choqué, entraîné, ou émerveillé, et j'ai eu l'impression au fil de la lecture de simplement voir un film policier lambda.
J'espère que ma prochaine incursion dans le polar sera plus réussie.
J'espère que ma prochaine incursion dans le polar sera plus réussie.
Not as good or as strong as his other books for these characters (the plot was a bit more convoluted than he usually writes, and the characters seemed a little bit not quite themselves), but still a good crime novel with loads of suspense, creepy happenings, and oodles of mystery.
It kind of amazes me that it's been 3 years since I read Book 3 in this excellent series. Montanari certainly puts a spin on the serial killer genre in this and earlier books.
His writing is intelligent with strong characterisation and I found this very hard to put down.
His writing is intelligent with strong characterisation and I found this very hard to put down.
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Richard Montanari is the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author of Rosary Girls and Skin Gods, as well as the internationally acclaimed thrillers Kiss of Evil, Deviant Ways and The Violet Hour. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Series:
* Jack Paris
* Jessica Balzano & Kevin Byrne
More about Richard Montanari...
Series:
* Jack Paris
* Jessica Balzano & Kevin Byrne
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